Asiatic
Lion
Work has been going on over
the past decade to establish the world's second completely removed population
of the wild free ranging Asiatic Lions at the Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya
Pradesh. Conservationists, Scientists all over the world and the Central
Government of India agree that this is necessary to save the last Asiatic lions
from extinction due to epidemics and natural calamities in the near future. It
is also very important to start a separate second population because not only
it serves as a life insurance for the last surviving Asiatic Lions but it will
also help to develop and maintain genetic diversity.
Compared to its African
counterpart, the males of the Indian lion have a scantier mane and a
characteristic skin fold at the belly.
Chandra and
Moti, the asiatic lions at Bristol Zoo
Lions were once found in Europe.
Aristotle and Herodotus wrote that lions were found in the Balkans. When King Xerxes
of Persia advanced through Macedon in 480 B.C., several of his baggage camels
were killed by lions. Lions are believed to have died out within the borders of
present-day Greece around AD 80-100.
The European population is
sometimes considered part of the Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica)
group, but others consider it a separate subspecies, the European lion (Panthera
leo europaea).
Lions were found in the
Caucasus until 10 AD. These lions become extinct from Armenia around the year 300
and from Azerbaijan and southwest Russia during the 10th century. The region
was also inhabited by the Caspian Tiger and the Persian leopard apart from Asiatic
Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) introduced by Armenian princes for
hunting. The last tiger was shot in 1932 near Prishib village in Talis,
Azerbaijan Republic. The principal reasons for the disappearance of these
cats was their extermination as predators. The prey for large cats in the
region included the Wisent, Elk, aurochs, tarpan and others ungulates.
Lions remained widespread
elsewhere until the mid-1800s when the advent of firearms led to its extinction
over large areas. The last sighting of a live Asiatic Lion in Iran was in 1941
(between Shiraz and Jahrom, Fars province). In 1944, the corpse of a lioness
was found on the banks of Karun river, Khuzestan province, Iran. There are no
subsequent reliable reports from Iran.[7] By the late
1800s the lion had disappeared from Turkey.[8][9]
In 1968, a study of the
skulls of the extinct Barbary (North African), extinct Cape, Asiatic, and
African lions showed that the same skull characteristics - the very narrow
postorbital bar - existed in the Barbary and Asiatic lion skulls. This shows
that there may have been a close relationship between the lions from
Northernmost Africa and Asia. It is also believed that the South European lion
that became extinct around AD 80-100, could have represented the connecting
link between the North African and Asiatic lions. It is believed that Barbary
lions possessed the same belly fold (hidden under their manes) that are seen in
the Asian lions today.