A friend sent me this pic of an Indian Lioness taking a break in the shade from intense afternoon heat. He took this pic on a recent trip to India.

On latest count there are about 500 of these beautiful lion sub-species left in the wild. They are a bit light-skinned (especially the males) when compared to african lions.

They also do not have much of a mane & are quite skinny. In India the Tiger is the real king of beasts!

I wish there were 500 remaining. The official figures arer always inflated.
Some figures say 300.

The Asiatic lion is smaller than the African counterpart and the male is almost maneless(compared to its African cousin).

They only found in one district of a small state of India. The govt. has been planning to relocate them to other national parks but this plan has been in the pipeline for more than a decade without any action.

These lions are found in the Gir forest in the state of Gujarat. From what I heard the state govt. did not want to send a breeding population to another state as they did not want to loose out on tourist revenue! So for whatever reason if something happens to this only population thats the end of the Asiatic lion!

There was sad news that person who was fighting the land mafia encroaching on the sanctuary was murdered in front of State High Court of Gujarat state. This is sad state of affairs if one raises a voice they are eliminated or threatened and ensnared in false cases with complicity of authorities and local bigwigs..

I have found very little literature on hunting these lions. Any suggestions on historic lit other than Forty Years Reminisensences of India?

Lion and bluebull