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Asiatic Lion - Data, Pictures & Videos
Asiatic Lion - Data, Pictures & Videos
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Asiatic Lion - Data, Pictures & Videos
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Artist: Abbey Altson (British, 1866–1949)
Title: Lions from the Gir Forest, Gujarat, 1931 (Oil)  *This image is copyright of its original author
I briefly mentioned here that there is a book from the year 1829 which spoke of 3 types of lions: the Bengal lion (Asiatic lion, Felis leo bengalensis), Barbary lionand Cape lion (Felis leo capensis), and that though the Bengal lion was smaller than the Cape lion, it had a more extensive mane than the Cape lion (which like the Barbary lion had such a 'luxuriant' mane that it covered the belly):
*This image is copyright of its original author ... *This image is copyright of its original author This is not the only case of Asiatic lions having belly-covering manes. Images from Mesopotamia (mostly Iraq) and Iran show likewise, and this Heptner and Sludskiy had this sketch of the Middle Eastern or Persian lion (by N. N. Kondakov) in their book, from the work of Hemmer (1967): *This image is copyright of its original author
(09-01-2019, 11:18 PM)BorneanTiger Wrote: I briefly mentioned here that there is a book from the year 1829 which spoke of 3 types of lions: the Bengal lion (Asiatic lion, Felis leo bengalensis), Barbary lion and Cape lion (Felis leo capensis), and that though the Bengal lion was smaller than the Cape lion, it had a more extensive mane than the Cape lion (which like the Barbary lion had such a 'luxuriant' mane that it covered the belly): Depictions of Middle Eastern lions with belly-covering manes: Palace of Darius, Iran:  *This image is copyright of its original author Ishtar Gate, Babylon, Iraq:  *This image is copyright of its original author The Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal, Assyrian reliefs from Nineveh, northern Iraq: Gandelman:  *This image is copyright of its original author Raddato's picture showing a relief of Assyrian King Ashurbanipal himself killing a lion:  *This image is copyright of its original author I also came across this, but so far, I only see a cheetah.  Quote:Satpura is now famous for numerous tiger reserves. Once upon a time, it was ruled by wild Indian elephants and lions.'আইন-ই-আকবরী' ঠিক সরাসরি হাতি সংক্রান্ত কোনও আলোকপাত না করলেও' আবুল ফজল তার বিবরণীতে (খৃষ্টীয় ষোড়শ শতক) স্বীকার করেছেন যে তার সহচররা মধ্যভারতের উচ্চভূমি বা সাতপুরার অরণ্যে পশুরাজ সিংহের দেখা পেয়েছিল। তার মানে আজ থেকে ৫০০ বছর আগে গোন্ডয়ানার জঙ্গলে বাঘ-সিংহ দুয়েরই দেখা মিলত। কোনও এক অজ্ঞাত কারণে তার পরবর্তী সময়ে ভারতীয় সিংহের বাসস্থান সীমাবদ্ধ হয়ে যায় আরও পশ্চিমে সৌরাষ্ট্রের (গুজরাট) অরণ্যে। হয়তো ওইঅ একই সময়ে গোন্ডয়ানার হস্তীকূল সরে আসে পূর্বে ওড়িশা ও উপকূলবর্তী অন্ধ্রের জন্গলে। From google translate : ' Ain-i-Akbari ' Abul Fazl, in his narrative ( 16th century AD ), admits that his companions had saw the lions in Central Indian forests of Satpura. That means 500 years ago both tigers and lions would have been seen in the forests of Gondwana. For some unknown reason the Indian lion's habitat was restricted to the forests of Saurashtra ( Gujarat ) further west . It may be that at the same time the elephants of Gondwana move to the forests of Orissa and coastal Andhra in the east. 
Body size of Indian lion - modern records:
For many years we tried to get good information about the size of the Indian lion (Panthera leo persica), the last population of the Asiatic/Barbary lions, and that now share the status of subspecies togheter with the West African lions as Panthera leo leo. For several years we had only the information from Nowell & Jackson (1996) which provided the ranges of the weights of 6 adult lions captured by Dr Ravi Chellam in his studies of 1994, there were 4 males that ranged between 160 to 190 kg and 2 females that weighed 110 and 120 kg respectivelly. They quote that the longest lion measured 292 cm according with Sinha (1987). After that, I manage to collect all the available sizes of Indian lions from several sources, all of them measured between pegs, and I created this table and these images:  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author However, we still lacked the weights of 2 of the four males from Dr Chellam, which by the way, were baited and includes some stomach content. However, the weights matched those of the lions captured in West Africa. Latter, an email arise in this forum, about weights of Indian lions:  *This image is copyright of its original author I guessed that those weights were real and I decided to update my table, but for lack of time is still in my list. However, surfing the web I found this document thatn changed all: "Asiatic Lion: Ecology, Economics, and Politics of Conservation" - Yadvendradev V. Jhala et al. (2019). Link: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10....y-material This document not only have one of the most compreensive summary of information about the Indian lion in modern and old history, but also is the FIRST document, as far I know, that actually have the body measurements and weights from adult Indian lions!!! So, here is the information:  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author I think that this is more than enough to see that Indian lions are long but not as heavy as some people calculate based in pictures. Measurements were taken "along the curves", but I suspect that they pressed the tape like with the Amur tigers, as a lion with a head-body length of 204 cm (M6) weighs only 160 kg. Compare these measurements with those taken "between pegs" in my table. Interesting as it is, this documents provides much more information about this animal, and I think that many people here will be happy to discuss it and to learn more about this incredible animal, a relic from a past that no longer exist. Greetings to all! (09-03-2019, 06:11 AM)GuateGojira Wrote: Body size of Indian lion - modern records: One thing that these lions definitely have in common with Northern tigers (Caspian and Siberian tigers put together genetically) is that they suffered a massive reduction in number and habitat (which they partly shared), so just as the Amur tiger is what remains of the Northern race of tigers to have its weight reliably measured, the Gujarati lion is what remains of the Asiatic population of lions to have its weight reliably measured. As for the extinct lions and tigers of Iran and elsewhere, what we have left are photos, pictures, skins or stuffed bodies kept in museums, like that of Shirea, an Iranian lioness brought to Dublin by King Edward VII in 1902, during the reign of Shah Mozaffar Ad-Din of the Qajari dynasty of Persia, and kept in the Natural History Museum of Ireland:  *This image is copyright of its original author Men with a changed lion in Iran, circa 1880, by Antoin Sevruguin:  *This image is copyright of its original author 2 heads of tigers (I assume Bengal tigers) placed next to a stuffed lion (mistakenly called a 'tiger') in Bahawalpur Zoo in Pakistan, and it appears that the lion and tiger did occur in the area of Bahawalpur in the past, see the works of Kinnear (1920) and Nowell and Jackson (1996, referencing Roberts (1977)): Also, @Rishi earlier posted photos of stuffed lions in a museum in Jerusalem, from Dr Norman-Khalaf and Haaretz. 
Keyur Nandaniya
[i]Looking not so happy One of the famous male lion of Gir National Park "Hoth Tutlo" means broken lips.[/i] [i]  *This image is copyright of its original author [/i]
 (09-03-2019, 06:11 AM)GuateGojira Wrote: Body size of Indian lion - modern records:@GuateGojira Thanks a lot for sharing this valuable information 
Male lion marauding into a city... I strongly believe it's in India, near the Gir park...
@BorneanTiger :
About #1227 and #1228: ok thank you, there was no one indication on the instagram link...
Sadly, it’s a regular occurrence around Gir, so much so that they are now pushing into urban areas and taking to scavenging rather than hunting. Some have migrated as far as the coast which is 100 kilometres away!!! Some people of Gir don’t want them to find a new home because they fear their tourist revenues will go down and the govt is too chicken to do the right thing. They HAVE TO move these prides into Kuno where a secondary population is absolutely vital.
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