Asiatic Lion - Data, Pictures & Videos

[Matias]

@Rishi, say: Kuno is perfect! With almost 1000 km² of protected habitat have been developed & with another 5000 km² around it, Kuno-Palpur has potential to be everything Greater Gir isn't & much more! 

The local population is also reasonably low & would soon learn to live with their "friendly neighbourhood Asiatic lion".


Correct, 1000 km² effectively protected. I believe that these other 5000 km² today is not in any protective environment, itis not safe habitat nor for tigers the more for this new lions. Otherwise, these 5000 km² would be fully used to connect tigers according to the map presented. Your link and connection is still a product of intentions. I believe that the translocation of these lions should not depend solely on these protected 1000 km², much less depend on the tolerance of these people who live in these adjacent areas. In a planned translocation, areas contiguous to their formally protected area can not be included as a suitable lion habitat, since they are effectively not. Why not join all these areas into one national park? What is the human quantity in these 5000 km²? My intention is not to make it difficult, to place barriers, but rather to understand how these 5000 km² of available habitat can effectively be used as soon as the lions are translocated. In order to reach the 1000 km² protected area, Rajasthan had to add areas, which, it seems to me, are still occupied by people. As you said: Kuno-Palpur has potential to be everything Greater Gir is not & much more! However, it still needs to be worked on to be used as a suitable habitat for lions.

If these 6000 km² were formally protected, including displaced human populations, I would agree that a selectively limited population of lions could not only live there, but also cohabit with tigers. It would be an interesting and very rewarding experience for wildlife professionals.

I do not know why Indians have been convinced that 40- or 60-thousand-hectare areas are enough for a tiger population to thrive. The large number of tigers in unprotected areas (buffer zones and adjacent areas), as well as the existence of few adult males in protected areas, is the clearest and most evident reflection that they inhabit insufficient areas. Not to mention that all national parks and protected areas in their biomes, depending on the particularities of each of these areas, has between 40 to 75% of area fully suitable for tigers. In Gujarat, a population of about 600 lions has led them to inhabit an area of two million two hundred thousand hectares. This expansion, obviously, is due to the multiple needs of survival, facilitated by human tolerance and adequate prey. As the areas effectively protected are small, and it seems to me that there is no second area as an option, this leads one to believe by conviction or lack of choice that the 1000 km² is sufficient for
this translocation. The corridors serve not only for breeding and genetic health, but also to ease conflicts and provide young males with relatively appropriate areas for dispersal, and this view that life professionals India's wilderness with regard to tigers is being replicated with lions, even knowing that they need much larger spaces.

"The local population is also reasonably low and would soon learn to live with their" friendly neighborhood Asiatic lion ".
You're being very optimistic. Correct me if I'm wrong. The Maldhari tolerance was achieved from top to bottom. the Nawab of Junagardh and his son through "laws / decrees" made the protection of lions a priority, even with serious criminal sanctions. Over time, new values have been built and their protection no longer depends on laws and decrees. "I do not know if this tolerance already existed between the Maldharis and the lions in the nineteenth century"

"Darwinism overdrive":


@Wolverine,

Your concerns about the Maldharis are mine as well. Although they are not hostile to lions and their livestock compose their feeding, their high quantitative pressures and unbalances the habitat and, of course, their expansion should be avoided. I also share that a new home in the face of the possibility of any catastrophe threatening the lions is desirable. Formalization to increase the area of the Gir shrine is also common sense and desirable. The only remark I am making is that the large-scale withdrawal of the Maldharis from the region may bring more trouble than solution, and that may be why the Maldhari issue has been treated carefully and in homeopathic doses for decades. Overall I realize that I, you and Rishi have close opinions, small differences are due to the degree and not the nature of the facts.

Translocation sooner or later will happen, that is fact. Although my opinions are not favorable to Kuno-Palpur today, my wish is that I will be fully successful. As we know, when a translocation of predators is done in a large meticulously planned and adequate area, numerous problems arise and challenge ... It is possible that after this translocation, as the problems arise, the government of Rajasthan formalize the protection of new land, and face concretely the local population issue. In this context, where at least I realize that there are many gaps that should be addressed before establishing a new population of lions, I have used the concept of a marketing product. As I focus more on African issues, and see such well-planned and executed projects facing difficult-to-solve problems, this "usual modus operandi" in India is a factor that I still do not know how to deal with / measure / understand. A country where the Supreme Court of Justice determine and the government does not obey. Reading only does not allow us to understand culture, habits and customs. Only a resident like our Rishi friend can clarify how the thinking of Indian wildlife professionals works. Reply