There is a world somewhere between reality and fiction. Although ignored by many, it is very real and so are those living in it. This forum is about the natural world. Here, wild animals will be heard and respected. The forum offers a glimpse into an unknown world as well as a room with a view on the present and the future. Anyone able to speak on behalf of those living in the emerald forest and the deep blue sea is invited to join.
Tiger-lion interaction in India is every day a more polemic theme. Ecologically, these two super-predators have lived in India since c.10,000 years ago, the interesting thing is that there is not a single account of a fight between wild lions and wild tigers in India, no one, nor even the old books like the Mahabarata mention this, which show that these great cats respect each other in they own habitats. This is supported by modern ecology that shows that tigers and lions live in completely different habitats and there is no overlap between them. When tigers arrived to India about 12,000 years ago, lions already lived there (together with humans, that is why Indian religion had more lion influence than tiger) and despite this fact, tigers thrived through all the place and make it they stronghold while lions decline (probably caused by the climatic change, that convert savanna into forest, which affected the lion). So, from a practical point of view, lion presence is not a problem for tigers and the same can be say to the other way. However, the theory of Mr Valmik Thapar and his team of history experts’ go against the fact that lions are native from India, which will explain why there has been so few lions in India since historic times (Mughals to British, for example) but this is another theme.
Sadly, modern times are neither practical nor ideal. Kuno have a very low prey base, and as far I know, no domestic cattle, nor even feral. So, lions need a large prey base, even larger than the tiger as they live in groups, in this case is completely plausible that lions, in search of good prey, do invade Ranthambore and then, tiger-lion conflict will arise. Valmik Thapar in his book "Exotic Aliens" of 2013 states that if conflict arise, tigers will have the advantage, not only for its size but also because they are masters of the closed habitats and will simple "destroy" the lions. However, this could apply to a male-vs-male scenario, especially by the fact that Indian lions are normally loners, with very rare cases of 2 to 4 males, and certainly a reintroduced group will not have too many males. Now, for females, there will be a problem as Indian lioness are normally in groups of 2-3 specimens, and will present a real treat to a lone tigress.
Tigers and lions, following the classic ideology, had coexisted in India without no conflict, but this was because both of the habitats that they respectively use had plenty of prey, but in a scenario like that of Kuno, is possible that a real problem could arise. At the end it doesn't matter if "tigers will win" or if "lions will win", NO, the problem is how many cats will die for this conflict. Both cats are greatly endangered and every single specimen is highly valuable, I think that FIRST they most create a good prey base in Kuno (reintroduction of herbivores is possible and have been proved right in other areas), just then, they most move lions from Gir.
Only time will say if this "experiment" will succeed, but for the moment, I don't think that lions will be transported in the near future, Gir will not let them go so easily.
