Asiatic Lion - Data, Pictures & Videos

[GuateGojira]

(08-28-2014, 09:33 PM)'Pckts' Wrote: I have a couple of theories as to why.

1. They are not native and genetically inbred like you said
2. They are not meant to survive in that terrain, they aren't evolved to hunt through dense Forrest and that takes a toll on their physic.

But I will say that the females seem to look just fine, it's the males that usually look a little weird to me.
Some females as well, who knows for sure.
Either way, they are doing extremely well in the GIR now, and seem to have found their niche. Thats why they are looking for places to move them, their number are increasing.

But according to body dimensions, they are very close in size.
Body weight is with in 10-20kg on average between them, and some on the page before look pretty large and compare nicely to other African species.
I really think the mane is what makes people think they are so much smaller than Africans.

 

Pckts hit the point. Indian lions are, if they are native or not, genetically inbreed at a huge level. I mean, even the cheetah have a little, very little, more diversity of genes than the Indian lions. Scientists clearly states that if you take the DNA of all the Indian lions, they are all twins!!!

However, other point that is correct is that the females looks very well and in great form, despite the fact that the only two females weighed, in history, are of 110 and 120 kg, respectively. The males that we see in bad shape are probably the transient ones, after all, the dominant specimens look very well and in the same fit then they African brothers. Divyabhanusinh (2005; page 22) goes even further and states that the African lion is no larger than the Indian one, but I think this is an exaggeration from his part (or his heart).

Indian lions average about 160 kg, while the East African lions average 170 kg and those from Southern Africa about 185 kg. On body dimensions, they are slightly shorter than those of East Africa, but the difference is very small (a few centimeters). I don't have the figures here, but as far I remember, males average about 265 cm in total length, comparable with the 274 cm for the East African specimens.

Finally, Gir is the only place enough dry to have lions. The reports of lions in Central India are dubious now for me, and probably belongs to dispersed prides or simple introduced specimens by the hand of the man (if they are natives or not, is irrelevant in this point). The lion died from all areas in India except Gir, a place that have very few bush and more open areas. Now, at 2014, the Gir lions are at they highest point EVER. With 411 specimens, they are at the side of the Amur tiger and probably much higher than the entire population of West African lions, at only about 250 specimens!

The skinny transient males, the high inbreed depression and the few mane, provoke the effect that those lions are bad, but in fact, they are good, actually too good that they need another habitat.
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