Asiatic Lion - Data, Pictures & Videos

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Gujarat: 97% rise in ‘migrant’ lions in 5 years

The Asiatic lions have recorded a roaring growth of 97% outside designated lion sanctuaries of Gir, Girnar, Mitiyala and Paniya. In absolute numbers, lions outside the protected areas have risen from 167 in the 2015 Census to 329 in the enumeration exercise completed in May 2020. 

Ironically, the lion population has declined by 3.1% inside the protected areas, dwindling from 356 to 345.

While migration of lions outside the protected areas is common knowledge with lions routinely being sighted in revenue areas including villages and even roads of Junagadh city, the robust expansion of lion population outside the protected areas has got even the foresters surprised. 
Maximum growth of 272% in lion population has been recorded in the coastal belt of Rajula, Jafrabad and Nageshree. Satellite population of 17 lions has been recorded for the first time on Bhavnagar coast.

‘National park of 1,000sq km needed’

Experts say that lion population explosion in revenue areas can be majorly attributed to the easy availability of cattle prey which is a staple diet of lions. Weak and diseased cattle offered as bait to lions is also noted in a research paper by a national wildlife agency.

Congestion is also cited as a big reason behind lions moving out of protected areas. YV Jhala, a lion expert with Wildlife Institute of India (WII) said that sanctuary area for lions is too overcrowded and very less space is available sans any human presence.

“Asiatic lions have a national park without any human presence spread over only 250 sq km as compared to 50 tiger sanctuaries which are spread anywhere between 700 sq km and 1,000 sq km in area. The government needs to declare at least 1,000-sq km area as a national park for lions to thrive in Gujarat,” Jhala said.

Former Gujarat forest officer and lion expert H S Singh said that the population within the sanctuary has been saturated for the past 15 years now. “There is no scope of population growth within the sanctuary. Growth has been witnessed outside the sanctuary only.”

It needs mention that the total lion population has been recorded at 674 lions, up from 523 lions in 2015, during the Poonam Avalokan exercise conducted in JUne this year after the Lion Census 2020 was cancelled due to Covid-19 pandemic.

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