Lion Predation

[GuateGojira]

Divyabhanusinh's book "The Story of Asia's Lions" don't mention any modern species of wild bovid in the area, only the chital, wild boar, sambar and nilgai, as the largest prey.

It seems that the domestic and feral buffalo in Gir is a late introduction of the men in the area. However, some fossils of the Holocene at the cite of Langhnaj, in Gujarat, present wolves, mongoose, rhinoceros, wild boar, hog deer, swamp deer, nilgai, blackbuck and "undetermined bovine species". It is probably that some "buffalo-type" animals lived in that area, but at about 12,000 years ago, all the species related with water, like the swamp deer, disapeared from the place.

What is really shocking is that there is not a single fossil of any large cat in the area, no lion, leopard or cheetah.

Finally, it seems that the gaur, like the tiger, are tide to forest, so they cold not live, nor survive, in the arid habitat of the Gir lion.

I think that Indian lions don't need great bovids to make a great life. If the population of Sambar and Nilgai increase, that will be enough.
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