Asiatic Lion - Data, Pictures & Videos

[Rishi]

(03-28-2018, 11:22 PM)brotherbear Wrote: Curious; at what point in time historically was the lion proclaimed the "King of Beasts" in India? This seems rather odd.

"Always was"... "Never happened"...
The answer depends on which region you're talking about.
(Disclaimer: The following rant is based on what i've picked up from all sources under the sun.. the books, stories, interactions, newspaper articles, fables, historical coat-of-arms, epics & travelogues.)

If you're referring to the northern flood-plains, then you'll have to look at whatever remains of its natural vegetation. This is where majority of India's lions had lived.

This photo was taken just outside my city...

*This image is copyright of its original author

Full of marshes, swamps, oxbow lakes & huge seasonal lakes (called beels) most of it looked like this, as it still does in the remaining natural patches at Jungal-Mahal & uncultivated pockets like that.

The annual flooding by over 100 different rivers of the basin makes sure that trees don't dominate the landscape covered with massive swathes of grasslands & forests, drier towards the south as Terai blended into Central-India.

The wildlife included (photos taken at the few remants of its past glory) : 
Elephants...

*This image is copyright of its original author

Rhinos...

*This image is copyright of its original author

Two of world's largest bovines...

*This image is copyright of its original author

Bluebulls (Nilgai)...

*This image is copyright of its original author

Wild ass (just the northwest)...

*This image is copyright of its original author

& i'm not even in including Black-bucks, Sambars, Swamp deers (Barasingha), two types of gazelle (Chinkara & Chowsingha), Sloth bears, Boars etc. etc. 

(I suggest reading @Jimmy's #1,212 to feel it better!)

These were areas where the lions could form prides that any tiger would prefer avoiding... which was easy, given the other half was jungles & elephant grass!

So, the people saw even more of the lions.
While grazing cattle & converting land for farming...during hunting & traveling.

This parts of the subcontinent saw the most migration/invasions from the west, people who didn't see much tigers but we're familiar with lions in whatever wasteland they came from. Except these ones formed larger prides... were healthier (& probably larger)... were taking down huge animals they've only heard about...

Bottomline, if you ask a toddler to name the king 'o the beasts, no one would ever answer "tiger" & this region have always been home to some half of all the Indians.

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In the central plateau, to the south, lions never really made it there. The region is hilly & forested. Grasslands are smaller & sparser...mostly cultivated. Larger prey was rare & deers were much easier to ambush alone, giving tigers the edge.
Lions barely managed beyond the hills & maybe lived in some isolated metapopulations along the river valleys.

This was tiger country...

*This image is copyright of its original author

These hills have lots of tribal communities, many of whom have a Tiger God! Gonds have "Bagh Deo", Baigas have "Bagheshur", most tribes of Western Bengal don't have a word for tigers.They simply call them "Tarup", the king.

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But the most interesting part, i feel, is the semi-arid west. 

*This image is copyright of its original author

Without much natural segregation a of habitat, this is the land where they've coexisted in the same landscape .

Here tigers & lions battled each other for domination!

The land is dry & harsh, which did even the odds on both sides...

Most of the region is devoid of dense vegetation, the lifeline of tigers.

*This image is copyright of its original author

For the lions, there was not enough food to maintain large prides. 

The people have this region don't have seperate name for either & call both as Sher.

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It'd be accurate to say, that they had their own niche in this land's culture, just like they had in nature! Reply