Asiatic Lion - Data, Pictures & Videos

[Rishi]

Lions Hunt Less, Scavenge More Outside Gir Sanctuary: Report
Controversy continues as malpractice urges lions towards easy meals.

*This image is copyright of its original author

A new study by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) reveals that side effects of the very practice that allowed Asiatic lions live alongside humans in harmony are now turning on its very behaviour.
Dead, weak and sick livestock are abandoned in Katiawar to keep the local lions off the high-value ones, as those are easy prey & lions usually go for them. This is the reason the lions suffer no retaliation from the villagers for cattle-lifting.

However, outside Gir sanctuary there is no viable natural preybase in many & now hunting mostly domestic animals is slowly turning the  Asiatic lions into scavengers.

The study, ‘Ecology of Lion in agro-pastoral Gir landscape, Gujarat’, examined the feeding habits of the lions, both inside and outside the forest’s protected areas. And it sheds new light on behavioural differences among lions inside and outside the sanctuary.

Inside the protected area, 75% of the lions’ diet comprises wild prey that they hunt themselves, against only 30% few decades ago. However, as they stray further from the protected areas, the share of hunted wild ungulates starts falling. In many parts it's close to only 20% of their diet, with livestock comprising the rest.
What’s alarming is that only 20% of the livestock consumed is actually hunted; the rest of it is scavenged and comprises baited, dead or dying (and sometimes ill) livestock abandoned by local villagers.

*This image is copyright of its original author

About half of Gir’s 700 (estimated) lions live outside the sanctuary area, in Bhavnagar, Amreli, Porbandar and Gir Somnath districts.
The WII team expressed their concern that easy availability of food was dulling the Asiatic lions’ natural instinct to hunt its prey. Cubs are especially vulnerable, since repeated exposure to ‘easy’ food could leave them without this essential life skill.

Forest officials suggested disposal of cattle carcasses in lion habitats should not be allowed anymore.
“This will ensure lions are mandated to kill livestock or wild ungulates in the area and keep their hunting skills honed,” he said.“This would also prevent outbreak of CDV like diseases as sick and dead cattle are eaten by dogs which are carriers of deadly CDV virus,” the official added.

But even if wild prey is somehow made available in those areas (nearly impossible), the lions would still prefer to go for cattle that are still comperatively easier to catch.
But these would be healthy, productive ones & killing them will in turn cause villagers to economically suffer giving rise to nearly forgotten man-animal conflict in the region.

Sources:
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city...720294.cms
https://weather.com/en-IN/india/news/new...ary-report Reply