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Rishi · 02-12-2018, 07:59 AM

@TheLioness Wow! How'd you even find it? I've had zero luck.

@Spalea Yes, it probably was as big as they get. Big loss... but given how they live, it's somewhat unavoidable.

These images might help give an idea...

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Eating a person's cow in his own backyard.

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Drinking from cattle trough.

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On a crop-field at night.

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On a crop-field at day!

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Having a good time in plantations.

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Lurking outside Safari park.

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In a local temple Funny

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After a nap in someone's shed.

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Beside a highway...

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ON a highway!

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Quote:Graphic Content: Cub killed on railway line.

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Close proximity to dogs is also a cause of concern...

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Dangerously close to a farmhouse well.

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Spalea · 02-12-2018, 12:10 PM

@Rishi :

About #374: yes, the photo you posted speak for themselves. I understand you when you told this lion's death was unavoidable. People of Gir are very patient, but it isn't a situation which can eternally last. These lions don't live a lion's life.

Rishi · 02-21-2018, 12:27 PM

Romeo male, resident of Gir & some of the outer fringes!
January 2018.
© Siddharthsinh Sisodiya

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Rishi · 02-23-2018, 11:10 AM

Some really good works of photography...

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Rishi · 02-25-2018, 04:54 PM

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Tshokwane · 03-01-2018, 06:28 AM

Credits to Abhilash Vaja‎.

Crossing The Boundaries...

Sasan-Gir 2017

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Pckts · 03-12-2018, 11:45 PM

‎Rishit Sheth ‎

BiG daddy with all the Golden touch...

Gir I 2018

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~~brotherbear~~ · 03-28-2018, 11:22 PM

Curious; at what point in time historically was the lion proclaimed the "King of Beasts" in India? This seems rather odd.

Spalea · 03-28-2018, 11:45 PM

(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.

Why ? This animal doesn't seem as proud as the tiger ? Or even as its African congener ?

Perhaps after to have been passed so close to the total extermination, it displays rather a more discreet, faded, profile. I say that, I say nothing...

~~brotherbear~~ · 03-29-2018, 12:04 AM

Understood. Like the Asiatic lion, the European brown bear is a far cry from those bears so highly esteemed in ancient Europe which were evidently similar to the grizzlies of Frontier western N. America. Human activities greatly influence animal size and animal behavior or so it would seem.

~~brotherbear~~ · 03-29-2018, 12:22 AM

http://zeenews.india.com/exclusive/savin...91643.html

Saving the king of beasts: The endangered Asiatic Lions

The esoteric jungles of India are home to an array of majestic beasts walking in glory! Gir in India's Gujarat is one such abode to the Asiatic lions and the only home of the Asiatic lion in Asia.

Rishi · 03-29-2018, 02:48 PM

(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...

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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...

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Rhinos...

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Two of world's largest bovines...

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Bluebulls (Nilgai)...

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Wild ass (just the northwest)...

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& 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.

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...

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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

Spalea · 03-29-2018, 03:59 PM

About #387: Nice account @Rishi !

India is a subcontinent where several types of climate coexist. And I think that the lions live for a long time in the area where a big (and social) predator is the easiest to approach and hunt. And thus, that confirm's the @~~brotherbear~~ 's opinion at #385, and the mine at #384.

Pckts · 03-30-2018, 12:35 AM

Keyur Nandaniya Nature Photography
"I AM THE KING"

Asiatic Lion

Gir National Park

March-2018

#Nikon #D5, #Nikkor 200-500
f/5.6, ISO 200, 1/800, EV -1

*This image is copyright of its original author

Spalea · 03-30-2018, 01:03 AM

@Rishi :

About #386: I remember we also discussed about artistic representations showing the lion hunts with elephants, .i.e. exactly as it has been done as concerns the tigers. Thus same treatment for both felids... Both are king !

@Pckts :

About #389: beautiful photo of an Asiatic lion.

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