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Survey - The Future of Big Cats
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I don't necessarily buy that lions are just "passing" through.
This lion most likely came from the congo to gabon, it needs to hunt and eat to survive so I would assume that a lion looking good, most likely has hunted and fed recently. And thus if a lion can sustain itself there, then there is no reason why it couldn't live there, which they obviously have done before but it could also simply be passing through as well, but I think it still will seek out that type of habitat from time to time. There are also stories like this... "Off in one of the few remaining relatively primeval natural environments of the world — the Bili Forest of the far-northern portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo — lives a band of very large chimpanzees that possess a number of very strange qualities and behaviors. The local folk-stories of the surrounding region make note of massive ape-like creatures that kill and hunt lions, catch fish, and — the stories go — howl at the moon. With many local hunters mentioning an animal that looks something like a cross between a chimpanzee and a gorilla — an animal that apparently, according to the stories, is unaffected by poison darts, as the other apes are. While you may be now making the assumption that such stories can’t possibly be true, you’d actually be wrong — a fair amount of research has gone into this subspecies of chimpanzee over the last few decades, and there is apparently quite a lot of truth to the stories." http://scienceheathen.com/2015/01/11/bil...ubspecies/ Last but not least is the Gir Forest, while it is a dry and more open forest, it is still a forest none the less.  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author http://www.walkthroughindia.com/wildlife...-of-india/ and lions have thrived there as well. I see no reason why a tiger, jaguar and leopard can survive in the forest but a lion cannot. They already do or they did in some places and that is enough for me to know that they are capable of it. I think where cats live comes down to preference, a tiger loves the water and lions hate it, but still lions can thrive in it, a tiger prefers the secretive life, it's a loaner, it doesn't want to be seen, a lion prefers the open life, it's a pride member, they prefer to be seen and heard. Tigers can hunt in the open and have, lions can hunt in the jungle/forest and have. That being said, the Jungle is a very broad term, there are many different types of Forest and Jungle, is a lion or tiger suited to a densely packed jungle, of course not, they obviously need space to fit their big bodies, they don't climb trees (well) and thus that terrain is not suitable for them. Is a tiger more suited to indian jungle habitat than a lion, probably, but to be honest, there are very few on this forum who could actually provide real insight on the topic. @DrPanthera or @Shardul (may be a few others) would be the most qualified to explain to us the differences in habitat between the Gir, Kaziranga, Ranth, Congo, Gabon, etc. |
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