Arrival, rise, fall, and again rise of the Asiatic lion (Pantheraleo leo) in India

Abstract:

Many animal populations have shifted their distribution and emigrated to new areas
in response to climate change, and lions in India have had a similar story. This
commentary examines historical records, environmental barriers, climate change in
the region of Indus-Sarasvati rivers that created conditions for lions’s entry in India.
Recovery of artefacts of several wild animals and near absence of lion in these ancient
artworks at any site of the Indus-Sarasvati civilization revealed that lion was absent
or rare beyond the east of the Indus River in India before 2000 BCE. Environment
progressed from the moist conditions to dry in the Indus-Sarasvati region between
2600 and 1500 BCE, discharge of snow water from the Himalayas declined and many
large rivers of Indus-Sarasvati system transformed into seasonal rivers. Also, the
dense forests transformed to thorn forests and savannah like vegetation over a period
after 2000 BCE. Subsequently, Asiatic lions from the ancient Persian land got suitable
environment and opportunity to cross the Indus valley to the east. After a period,
lion population flourished reaching its peak in India during Buddha-Mauryan-Gupta
period (600 BCE – 500 AD). Hunting records revealed that the distribution and
abundance of lions remained at its peak during the Mughal and early British period
before end of the Little Ice Age during the mid-19th century. Subsequently, fall of the
Asiatic lion was sharp as numbers declined below hundred. After a long critical period
of ups and downs, Asiatic lion’s number and distribution range is on consistent
rise since declaration of Gir Lion Sanctuary Project in the early 1970s. Since then,
lion population has increased by five folds (891 individuals in 2025) along with
impressive recovery of wild ungulate population, turning management approach into
one of the most successful wildlife conservation stories in the world. Considering
dispersion trend of the lions and their arrival to Barda forest, an identified
alternative site for lion, Gujarat Government has prepared a long term comprehensive
project, “The Project Lion @2047-A vision of Amrut Kal” to secure and manage the
growing lion population and its potential habitats distributed in entire Saurashtra
region.

Introduction

Before the recent genetic studies on the surviving lion populations from different
regions in the world, biologists placed all African lions within a single subspecies,
Panthera leo leo, and the Asian lions as the second zoo-geographic subspecies, P.
leo persica (O’Brien et al., 1987; Bauer et al., 2016; Jhala et al., 2019). These two
subspecies had possibly diverged around 55,000 to 200,000 years ago (O’Brien et
al., 1987). However, recent studies found that the Western and Central African lions
are more closely related to the Indian lions in the Gir forests than those found in
South and East Africa (Bertola et al., 2022). Their work has improved the subspecies
classification, categorizing the surviving lions in two subspecies: Panthera leo leo- lions

of Central Africa, West Africa, and Asia (India), and Panthera leo melanochaita-
Southern and Eastern African lions (De Manuel et al., 2020; Bertola et al., 2022).

Recent analysis using mt-DNA from the latest and old lion samples shows that the
movement of lions from north Africa into Asia started sometime around 21000 years
ago and probably continued till the late Holocene, bringing fresh genetic material
to the existing Asian lion populations (Barnett et al., 2014). The study found evidence
of separate incursions into India from North Africa through Asia Minor. The
maternal lineage of the current Asiatic lion population in Gir was found to be a part
of the clade of the Northern, Western, and Central African lions (Barnett et al., 2014;
Jhala et al., 2019). Research by Bertola et al. (2015), who included nuclear as well as
mt-DNA markers, found that the Indian lions were a distinct genetic cluster without much
admixture from African lions, plausibly evolving separately after migrating to India.

Globally many animal populations have shifted their distribution and emigrated to new areas in response to climate change, including the lions (Barnett et al., 2014). During the period

of the Indus Valley civilization, climate-induced vegetation shifts in the forests of the Indus-Sarasvati landscape have been well-documented (Shaffer & Lichtenstein, 1989; Enzel et al., 1999; Staubwasser et al., 2003; Cliff, 2009; Giosan et al.,2012), but there have been no corresponding investigations of wild animal emigration/dispersal. This paper logically clarifies the issue and tries to bring new facts related to the
arrival, rise, fall, and again rise of the Asiatic lion in India.

When and how the Asiatic lion crossed the western Himalayan passes and entered the Indian subcontinent has remained a matter of debate due to a lack of extensive and authentic
evidence. Fossil records in Sri Lanka (Manamendra-Arachchi et al., 2005) indicate lion’s presence as early as the late Quaternary, much before the estimated arrival of both modern lions and tigers into India (Jhala et al., 2019). However, this may not be relevant in the context of the entry of the modern lion
into the Indian subcontinent, unless the fossil records of Sri Lanka show links to the current lions in India.

When did the Asiatic lion enter India?

Lions perhaps first entered India from the western Himalayan passes (Singh, 2017a; Rashid & David, 1992). As the lions could not possibly enter mainland India from Asia Minor/Persia without crossing the Indus River and the Indus-Sarasvati landscape. The Indus Valley civilization, also known as the Indus-Sarasvati civilization or Harappan civilization, was a Bronze Age civilization in the north-western regions of the Indian subcontinent, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1500 BCE, with a mature phase from 2600 BCE to 1900 BCE. The seals and artefacts linked to the Indus Valley civilization often depict common animals like tiger, elephant, rhino, bull, antelope, crocodile, etc., but lion is conspicuously absent (Divyabha-nusinh, 2008; Dutt et al., 2018). Except at sites of Mehrgarh

civilization in the west of the Indus River, lion art was not found on seals, pottery, and terracotta at any of the hundreds of Indus Valley civilization’s sites such as Mohenjo-daro, Dholavira,
Harappa, Lothal, and Rakhigarhi (Singh, 2017a). A rare figurine of a two-headed lion-like creature was recovered from an Indus Valley site, but it was likely an imported artefact (Divyabhanusinh, 2008; Singh, 2017a).Surprisingly, lion painting or art on terracotta vessels were recovered at Mehrgarh (Baluchistan) in the west of the river Indus, one of the most important Neolithic (7000 BCE to 1700 BCE) sites in archaeology (Figure 1). The presence of lion in artefacts at the Mehrgarh in the west of the Indus River
indicates a close association of the lion with people of western Indus Valley as well as people of the ancient Persian lands. Lions have had a close relationship with humans, as it was reflected in human art and culture wherever both shared the same landscapes. What was the reason for the presence of such
artefacts at Mehrgarh and their absence at any other site east of the Indus River? Perhaps, dense moist forest and the mighty Indus River worked as a barrier against the movement of the lions to the east of the Indus River before the progress of aridity in the region. Therefore, the lion was plausibly not present in the east of the Indus River during the mature phase of the Indus Valley civilization. To understand the period of lions crossing the Indus-Sarasvati region to its east, it is necessary to discuss climate, forests, and conditions of the rivers and environment. The study by Dutt etal. (2018) indicates an interval of warm and wet climatic conditions before and during mature phase of the Indus valley

civilization with a trend towards deteriorating climate,
leading to a protracted period of cold and arid phase from
2350 to 1450 BCE in the Indus-Sarasvati region. During this
protracted dry spell, the Indian summer monsoon weakened
depleting the water resources in the region that likely had
triggered the gradual desertion of the Harappan cities. Study
suggests a more than 900 years long event of dry spell in the
North-West Himalayas beginning at about 2350 BCE, which
decreased the precipitation and snow melting in the Northwest
Himalayas and subsequently the discharge in the Indus River
system (Dutt et al., 2018). A shift in temperatures and
weather patterns over the Indus valley at the beginning of 2500
BCE caused summer monsoon rains to gradually dry up, making
agriculture difficult or even impossible close to Harappan cities
(Giosan et al., 2012).
Shaffer & Lichtenstein (1989) envisaged a wet climate during
early Harappan times, placing the mature phase in an already
marked trend of aridity. The planktonic oxygen isotope ratios
of the Indus delta were examined by Staubwasser et al. (2003).
According to their research, the climate changed over the past
6,000 years, with the most notable shift occurring during the
last phase of the fully developed Indus Valley civilization with
a reduction in water flow in the Indus River. They observed
that the 2200 BCE event aligns with the drying rivers and
sudden decline of urban Harappan civilization in the Indus
Valley (Enzel et al., 1999; Staubwasser et al., 2003; Cliff, 2009).
Gupta et al. (2006) collected studies on the monsoon and other
climate factors from a variety of sources, including their own,
and came to the conclusion that the arid phase in the Indian
subcontinent started during the mature phase of the Indus
Valley civilization, coinciding with a stepwise weakening of the
south-west monsoon. The arid phase might have intensified
during 2000 – 1500 BCE, as has been in the Himalayas,
western peninsula, and north-western India. Danino (2016) also
wrote that the early mature Indus Valley civilization was the
time when, in the east of the Indus system, the mighty Sarasvati
dwindled to a minor seasonal river. Evidence in these scientific
publications suggest that the savannah habitats existing today in
western India are young.
Based on abovementioned studies, it appears to be well
recognized now that climatic and environmental disruptions
were a significant factor in the decline of moistness of
environment, transformation of many mighty rivers into
seasonal rivers, gradual change of high forests into thorn
forests and savannah like vegetation, leading to final break-up
of the Indus civilization. In other words, early phase or at the
beginning of the mature phase of the Indus Valley civilization,
the environment of the Indus-Sarasvati region was wet with
dense, moist to semi-moist tropical forest, and large rivers
acting as a barrier against the movement of the lion to the east of
the Indus River. When many rivers of the Indus-Sarasvati system
changed seasonal, discharge of snow water from the Himalayas
declined in the rivers and dense forests transformed to thorn

forests or savannah like vegetation over a period, lions from
the Persian region in the west of the Indus River got suitable
environment and opportunity at some time, most likely after
2200 BCE, to cross the Indus valley to its eastern lands in India.
There could be two reasons for the presence of lion artifacts at
the site of the Mehrgarh. First, it was an extension of the Persian
civilization where the lion was the dominant big cat. Second,
perhaps lions crossed the Bolan pass (near Quetta) and lived in
the region west of the Indus River, indicating continuity of lion
distribution from the ancient Persian land to Mehrgarh through
the Bolan Pass. However, the dense, moist forest in the lower
Indus Valley and a bigger Indus River could have acted as an
environmental barrier for the lion.
M. A. Rashid and Reuben David, the two known lion experts
from India, wrote that the lion migrated to India through the
north-western passes much before 6000 BCE (Rashid & David,
1992), but no authentic evidence was mentioned to
substantiate it. The Rigveda, one of the oldest texts in the world
(approximately 1700–1100 BCE), places great importance on
lions, bulls/cows, and horses. The early part of the Rigveda
does not mention the tiger, but the lion is mentioned, perhaps

because the bulk of this text originated either in the north-
western Himalayas or northern Persia, which had lions.

Subsequently, the lion in culture was carried on by the people in
the Rigvedic land to the Indian subcontinent.
A fresh controversy emerged after the publication of a book,
“Exotic Aliens: The Lion & the Cheetah in India” (Thapar et al.,
2013). The statement in the book about the Asiatic lion being
introduced in India by humans was contested by wildlife experts
like Divyabhanusinh and Ranjitsinh (Jhala et al., 2019). Such
views of anthropogenic introduction of the Asiatic lion,
opined by some naturalists and historians, have been negated
by genetic studies. O’Brien (2013) wrote that no African genetic
lineage was ever discovered among the wild Gir lions sampled.
A comprehensive analysis of molecular phylogeny indicated a
clear genetic distance between the present Gir and African lion
populations, indicating separate populations for a long period
and no evidence of gene flow between African and Asiatic lions
after the Holocene (Barnett et al., 2014; De Manuel et al., 2020).
This curtails the scope for continuing discussion on the points
raised by Thapar et al. (2013).

Rise of lions – Abundance and historical range in India

The lion came to India at a time when tigers and leopards had
already settled in the subcontinent (Rashid & David, 1992;
Bernett et al., 2014). Perhaps the lion was present in the areas
inhabited by the new human migrants (Aryans) and on the route
through which they migrated to India. The close proximity of
lion may explain its prominence in their art and literature and
the absence of tiger. It is also likely that the lions followed their
prey, the livestock, and fresh genetic pool of lions entered in
mainland India following human migrants and their cattle and
thus began to colonize the northern and western parts of the
country. Within a millennium, they expanded their habitat up
to the rivers Narmada and Ganga. It may be inferred that the
lion’s history in the Indian subcontinent may not be more than
4,000 years old. Kailash Sankhala, in his book “Tiger! The Story
of the Indian Tiger”, says that the tiger seems to have lost its
supremacy in India for some time after about 1500 BCE
(Sankhala, 1978). The lion was frequently mentioned in
religious and cultural works, including the Rigveda, Buddhist
Jatakas stories, Panchatantra, and Sanskrit literature in general.
Lions guarded the gates of the majority of temples of the ancient
and early medieval periods. In the late medieval period, the

lion dominated human culture in north-west India. Following
Independence, the lion capital of the Ashoka pillar (300 BCE)
was chosen as India’s emblem and, subsequently, its national
animal. The lion, which had dominated India for over 3,000
years, was replaced by the tiger as the country’s national animal
only in 1972–1973.
The Rigveda has more than fifteen references to the lion (Simha).
Aryan devatas- Rudra and Agni- are compared to a lion in the
Vedas. In Dev-Asur yug, Narsimha, a Lord Vishnu incarnation or
avatar who is half man and half lion and killed Hiranyakasyipu, a
great Asur king, thereby restoring Dharma. In the early Rigvedic
period, before the epic age (earlier than 600 BCE), Bharat, son of
the great king Dushyant and Shakuntala, played fearlessly with
lion cubs in a sage’s ashram, a testament to his bravery. In the
war of the ten kings, Indra, king of the Devas, provided aid to
Rigvedic king Sudas of the Bharat clan against the vast host of
enemies. In this war, the defeat of ten kings is compared to the
defeat of a lioness by a ram. There is an interesting story in both
the Ramayana and Raghuvamsa of a lion attempting to kill the
cow, Nandini, who was saved by king Dilip, an ancestor of Lord
Rama. These mythological stories indicate the presence of lions
in the lands of their kingdoms.
It is likely that the period from the entry of the lion in India to
600 BCE saw an increase in the lion’s distribution range in the
north-western and north-eastern India up to Bihar – Bengal and
up to the Narmada River in the south. The Harappan civilization
used the bull, the elephant, the rhino, and the tiger as cultural
symbols. In Asia Minor, Europe, and Egypt, every god, goddess,
and king was ‘lionized’. But in India, before Mahavir (540 BCE
to 468 BCE), none of the twenty-three Tirthankars of Jainism
had the lion as their symbol. Every one of them selected plants
and animals, including snakes, as their symbol. King of Ikshwaku
Vansh of Simhpur (now Sarnath, near Varanasi) was the father
of the 11th Tirthankar, Lord Shreyansnath. The name of the
kingdom, Simhpur, suggests that the lion perhaps existed when
Lord Shreyansnath was born in the city (Singh, 2017a).
Queen Trishala, mother of Vardhman, who was later named as
Lord Mahavir, dreamt fourteen beautiful and auspicious events
after conception, including a magnificent lion, at midnight. The
dream was interpreted that her son would be as powerful as
a lion. He would be fearless, mighty, and capable of ruling the
entire world. The lion became a symbol of Tirthankar Mahavir,
but this royal animal could not become a symbol of other
Tirthankars before him.
Siddhartha, who was later called Gautam Buddha after
achieving enlightenment around 524 BCE, was born around
560 BCE to Sakya chieftain. He was also known as Sakyasimha,
the lion of the Sakya tribe. His first sermon at Sarnath is known
as Simhanad, the roar of a lion, since his voice was as loud and
effective as the roar of a lion. While other gods and kings in
ancient India were symbolized with animals like elephant
and bull, the lion was chosen as a symbol for Gautam Buddha,
Mahavir Jain, and the Mauryans. The domination of the lion
in culture during the time of the Mahavir Jain, Buddha, and
the Mauryas around the sixth century BCE indicates that the
distribution and population of the lion reached a peak during
those periods. By the time Jainism and Buddhism grew in
significance, lions had a well-established distribution range in
India.
During the time of Buddha, the Asiatic lion roamed from Sindh
in the west to Bengal in the east. The Himalayan foot-hills and
the Ganga plains formed their northern and eastern limit, while
the Narmada seemed to be its southern boundary, although
unconfirmed report of the lion south of Narmada River have
also emerged (Rashid & David, 1992; Singh, 2017a). A question
might be raised as why the lions did not reach the eastern plains

of the Ganga River. There could be two reasons: first, the lions
could not get enough time to cross the mighty Ganga in the
plains, and the second reason could be that the dense, moist

forests and Ganga river acted as an environmental barrier. Li-
ons were abundant in the Gupta period (300 AD to 600 AD), as

kings of the period – Chandragupta II and Kumargupta hunted
lions and minted lion coins. There are plenty of records of lion

hunts during the Mughal period and early British period (mid-
15th century to 19th century AD). Thus, the Asiatic lion flourished

from the first millennium BCE to the mid-19th century AD in the
north-west of India.

Fall after the Little Ice Age – A critical period a hundred years ago

The Asiatic lions are now restricted to a single population
in and around the Gir forests in Gujarat State of India. Due to
un-restricted hunting and habitat loss, lions were extirpated
from Asia Minor and a major part of the habitats in India by the
end of the 19th century (Figure 2; Singh, 2017a).

Except for lion hunting records of the Mughal and British period,
the history of lions in India before the 19th century, especially
beyond the Gir forest, is poorly documented. Kazmi (2021) has
described chronological records of lion hunts in Hurrianah (now
Haryana) and the region around Delhi. His research established
the existence of a good number of lions, and their large-scale
hunting, which involved wiping out entire prides, including
the killing or capturing of lion cubs in Haryana, leading to their
extinction in a short period. He listed 26 references dealing
with lions in the Haryana landscape between the years 1809
to 1823. The records also provide very interesting information
on the ecology of lions in Haryana. These references mention
sightings of a total of 129 to 141 lions, out of which at least 109
were conclusively killed by the hunters. Of them, as many as 80
lions were killed in a mere five-year period (1810–1815). The
British record of June 18, 1811, mentioned that the lions were
very plentiful in the area around Hansi, Haryana, where tigers
and leopards also occurred. Kazmi (2021) also mentioned the
travel diaries of Maria Nugent, the wife of Sir George Nugent,
the Commander-in-Chief of India (1811–1813), who kept record
of lion hunts. William Fraser, who was part of Lady Nugent’s
camp, hunted plenty of lions in Haryana, mostly on foot or on
horseback. Divyabhanusinh (2008) also mentions that the

British encountered plenty of lions in the region around Delhi.
Naturalists Richard Lydekker and J. G. Dollman claimed that
Colonel George Acland Smith hunted 300 Indian lions during his
stay in India (out of which about 50 lions were killed in the Delhi
district) in the years leading up to and just after 1857, although
this statement was contested by some naturalists (Thapar et al.,
2013; Kazmi, 2021) . Available records indicate that population
and distribution range declined drastically after the First War of
Independence (1857) in India, which was also the ending phase
of the Little Ice Age (1300 AD to 1850 AD).
During the Little Ice Age, from the early 14th century through
the mid-19th century, when mountain glaciers expanded, the
climate was cooler than the present days. Subsequently, habitat
loss and rampant hunting, combined with the impact of a hot
environment, perhaps caused a drastic decline in the
distribution range and population of lions.

Available records suggest that lions occurred in almost all parts
of Saurashtra during the Mughal period, and lion hunts were
recorded in all districts of the region (Gee, 1964; Rashid & David,
1992; Singh, 2017a). By the 1880s, lions were restricted in and
around the Barda and Alech hills, Mitiyala, Girnar, and Gir forests
in the Saurashtra peninsula of Gujarat (Jhala et al., 2019).
Subsequently, lions were extirpated from Barda and Alech hills
and were restricted to Gir forest and adjoining areas. Since 1880,
there has been an increased concern about the falling numbers
of the Asiatic lion in the Gir forest. The last three decades of the
19th century and the first two decades of the 20th century were
the worst for the Indian lion as its population was estimated
below a hundred individuals, with few naturalists mentioning
a population below 50 individuals (Gee 1964; Rashid & David,
1992). Although most of these estimates were opinions rather
than a result of systematic surveys. At the beginning of the 20th
century, Lord Curzon declined a lion hunt in the Gir forests in
Junagadh because the Asiatic lion was on the verge of extinction
and instead asked the Nawab of Junagadh to protect the animal.
According to Fenton (1909), a British field officer, five or six lions
were shot annually within Gir and about eight in the outlying
areas, despite protection. The Chief Forest Officer of Junagadh
mentions in 1913 that a good number of lions were hunted
annually in Mitiyala, a block of forest governed by the princely
Estate of Bhavnagar (Anon., 1975; Singh, 2017b).
The Statistical Account of Nawab (ex-ruler) of Junagadh in 1884,
through a statement of a Britisher, Col. J. W. Watson, mentioned
that the Gir lion population was about a dozen (Divyabhanusinh,
2008; Singh, 2017a). After a tour of the Gir forest in 1913,
Wallinger, the Chief Forest Officer, raised alarm about a low number
of lions and reported that there were no more than 20 lions in
the Gir forest of Junagadh State (Anon., 1975; Singh, 2017a).
However, during the same period, Major H. G. Carnagie, in 1905,
mentioned about 80 surviving lions (at least 70 lions), and

J. R. Ratanagar and Sir P. R. Gadell stated about 50-100 free-
ranging lions in the Gir forests in 1920 (Anon., 1975). The

scientific discourses later picked the lower number (a dozen to
20 individuals) as a reference of lion population at the beginning
of the 20th century for unknown reasons, ignoring observations
of other naturalists. At that time, lions occurred in Rajkot and
Bhavnagar states beyond the boundaries of the Gir forests
governed by the Nawab of Junagadh. During the first census
of the Asiatic lion in 1936 in and around the Gir forests, 287
individual lions were counted (Anon., 1975; Singh, 2017b). If the
lion number was below two dozen in 1913, how could it reach
287 individuals at the time of the first lion census in 1936? It
is evident that the free-ranging lion population most probably
never dropped below fifty during the entire history of the Indian
lion. Ignoring several reports and logical findings, and sticking to
two individual statements, numerous scientific papers and books
have been published discussing and ascertaining an unrealistic
population rebound. These scientific publications have created

an improbable narrative that the present population of the Gir
lion is built up from a dozen lions that survived in the Gir forests.
These narratives need recalibration to correct the distorted
recent history, and future discourses must be more careful.
Accurate information about the distribution range and
abundance of lions in India before the first lion census in 1936
in the Gir forest is not well understood. However, it is evident
that the distribution range and population of lions reached their
lowest level at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of
the 20th century. At present, the Gir forest is synonymous with
the Asiatic lion.

Rising again – Recovery from the verge of extinction

Along with Asiatic lions, other carnivores such as the Indian
leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), striped hyena (Hyaena
hyaena), Indian golden jackal (Canis aureus), jungle cat (Felis
chaus), Indian fox (Vulpes benghalensis), honey badger
(Mellivora capensis), and rusty-spotted cat (Prionailurus
rubiginosus) occur in the Gir landscape. Nine wild prey
species, consisting of seven wild ungulates (spotted deer Axis
axis, sambar Rusa unicolor, blue bull Boselaphus tragocamelus,
four-horned antelope Tetracerus quardricornis, blackbuck
Antelope cervicapra, Indian gazelle Gazella benneti, and wild
pig Sus scrofa), one primate (hanuman langur Semnopithecus
entellus), and one large bird (Indian peafowl Pavo cristatus)
are the main wild food for major carnivores in the Gir forest
(Joslin, 1973; Anon., 1975). Lions are primarily dependent
on wild ungulates like spotted deer, blue bull, sambhar and
wild pigs, and domestic animals like cattle, buffalo, whereas
leopard’s dependency is high on spotted deer, sambar, wild
boar, Hanuman langur, peacock, Indian hare and medium to
small domestic animals (Anon., 1975; Singh, 2017b). Beyond
Gir boundaries, lions’ dependency for food is high on cattle,
buffalo, blue bull, wild pig, and carcasses of domestic
animals (Jhala et al., 2019).
The Gir Lion Sanctuary was created in 1965, and the Gir
Lion Sanctuary Project was launched in 1972. Before the
implementation of the Gir Lion Sanctuary Project, the prey
population was very low, and lions’ dependency was mainly
on domestic livestock-cattle and buffalo (Joslin, 1973; Anon.,
1975). Implementation of the project was one of the most
successful conservation stories, as the lion population
consistently increased by five folds (Figure 3) and seven
species of wild ungulates also increased by many folds (5,600
in 1973 to 91,300 in 2019) during the last five decades (Joslin,
1973; Anon., 1975; Singh, 2017b; Jhala et al., 2019; Ram et al.,
2023a).
At present, lion is found in seven districts– major parts of
Junagadh, Gir-Somanath, Amreli, and Bhavnagar, some parts
of Rajkot, Porbandar, Devbhumi, Dwarka, and occasional visits
in Surendranagar district. In the winter of 2023, one lion and
two lionesses arrived in the Porbandar district and settled in
the Barda forest, a site identified in the 1979 as an alternative
habitat for lions. Subsequently, they were joined by three more
lionesses. Breeding of these lions was documented during the
last two and a half years. At present, there are 17 individual
free-ranging lions (one male lion, 5 lionesses, 2 sub-adults over
one year, and 9 cubs) in the Barda forest. Thus, the restoration
and development of an alternate lion population away from the
Gir landscape is currently in progress at Barda forest.
In 2015, lion counting was done in about 22,000 km2
, which was
further increased to about 30,000 sq. km in 2020, and 35,000
km2
in 2025 due to continued dispersion of the lion (Gujarat Forest Department, 2025).

The population of a minimum of 891
lions at 358 locations in 2025 was female-biased (330 females,
196 males, 140 sub-adults, and 225 cubs). The network of Gir
Protected Areas (Gir National Park, Gir Wildlife Sanctuary and
Paniya Wildlife Sanctuary), held the largest number of lions
(n= 394) as source/core population, followed by seven satellite

populations and one alternate population: (i) Savarkundla-
Liliya and adjoining areas (n= 125), (ii) the south-eastern coast

in Amreli district (n= 94), (iii) Bhavnagar mainland – Hippavadli
Zone (n= 103), (iv) Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary and adjoining area
(n= 54), (v) the south-western coast in Gir–Somnath district
(n= 25), (vi) the coast of Bhavnagar district (n= 15),
(vii) Mitiyala Wildlife Sanctuary and adjoining area (n= 32),
(viii) Barda Wildlife Sanctuary – an alternative site (n= 17),
and corridors and other areas (n= 32) (Figure 4; Gujarat Forest
Department, 2025). As per the lion census in May 2025, more
lions are outside the Gir forest boundaries (55.8%) than the
lions within it (44.2%; Gujarat Forest Department, 2025).
Naturalists working in and around the Gir forests have a strong
opinion that the lion population is growing consistently at the
same or a higher rate. If the compounding annual growth (5.74 %)
of the last five years persists in the lion conservation landscape,
the population may continue to disperse in the entire Saurashtra
region covering 11 districts. Increasing population and
detection of death cases during the last ten years also reveal
a high population of lions (Ram et al., 2023b). The Forest
Department reported in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly that
313 lions died in two years – 2019 and 2020 (154 deaths took
place in 2019 and 159 in 2020, comprising 90 lionesses, 71 male
lions and 152 cubs) and average annual deaths of lions during
the last ten years, from 2015 to 2024, was 122 individuals
(pers. comm. Gujarat Forest Department).
The lion count revealed that the lion number within the Gir
Protected Area has marginally increased, but the rate of increase
was consistently high beyond the boundaries of the Gir forests

in the satellite areas. The lion distribution range has expanded
from about 10,000 sq. km. in 1995 to about 35,000 sq. km.
in 2025 (Singh, 2017b; Ram et al., 2023b; Gujarat Forest
Department, 2025). Also, lion densities in Girnar,
Savarkundla-Liliya, and the coastal zone of Amreli are higher
than the densities in the best lion habitat within the Gir
Protected Area. The recovery of the big cat in the lion
conservation landscape in the Saurashtra region is a success
story, accrediting the efforts of the local community and the
Gujarat Government. This story of lions and the people living in
proximity in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat provides the world
with a plausible model of carnivore co-existence (Singh, 2017b;
Jhala et al., 2019).

Emerging future scenario
Establishing a second population of free-ranging lions without
dependency on the Gir forest has been the most important
conservation priority. Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh
was identified and developed as an alternative site for the
Asiatic lion, but lions could not be translocated till date due to
socio-political reasons, despite the direction of the Supreme
Court of India. Barda forest in Porbandar and Jamnagar districts
was also identified as an alternative habitat within Gujarat
by the State Government in 1979, but the lion populations
could not be restored there as well. Migration of a lion and five
lionesses in the Barda forests (quite distant from the source
population in the Gir forest) and the successful birth of litters
of all five lionesses in recent years has moved the progress in
the right direction. The State Forest Department has initiated
several activities to restock Barda and the surrounding area with
lions and wild ungulates. Recent development indicates that, in
a few years, Barda forest is expected to be fully rehabilitated by
the lions, building an alternative site.

When the population reached a saturation level in and around
the Gir forests in the 1990s, the lions gradually dispersed
to new areas where they had occurred a century ago. The
distribution range of the Asiatic lion was doubled in the four
districts (Jhala et al., 2019) in three decades, which further
expanded to seven districts in 2025 (Gujarat Forest Department,
2025). Conservation measures beyond Protected Areas were
extended to the entire lion distribution range. The Gujarat
Forest Department reports that the free-ranging population of
Asiatic lions is widespread in the multi-use landscape of the
Saurashtra region. In several villages, forest patches, wastelands,
and community lands are available for resting and sheltering,
although not all of them may be suitable sites for lion breeding.
Considering the dispersion trend of the lions, the Gujarat Forest
Department has prepared a long -term comprehensive project,
“The Project Lion @2047- A vision of Amrut Kal”, to secure and
manage the growing lion population and its habitats (Gujarat Forest
Department, 2023a). This project, covering Wildlife
Sanctuaries and National Parks, Reserved Forests, Protected
forests, Un-classified forests, Reserve Vidis (Reserved
Grasslands), and Non-Reserve Vidis in 11 districts of Saurashtra
in Gujarat State, has been approved by the National Board for
Wild Life in its 7th meeting at Gir-Sasan held on 3rd March 2025.
With the increasing lion population, the likelihood of negative
human-lion interaction is also increasing. However, a high
density of the Indian leopard in the lion distribution range
is also a big cause of man-wildlife conflict (Vasavada et al.,
2020). In 2023, a total of 995 leopards were counted in the lion
conservation landscape in the four districts, viz., Junagadh,
Amreli, Gir Sasan-Somnath, and Bhavnagar districts (Gujarat
Forest Department, 2023b). Thus, over 1,880 big cats with
high density occur in the Lion Conservation Landscape. Wild prey biomass within the Gir forests is reasonably high. Due to
a high concentration of big cats, human-big cat conflicts are
bound to occur. As per the data provided by the Gujarat Forest
Department, average annual human deaths due to lion attacks
during the last ten years (2015-24) were 3.5 per year, with
average annual attacks of 18.9 per year. In comparison, average
human deaths due to leopard attacks were 10.5 per year, with
average annual attacks of 62 per year during the same period.
During the last five years (2020-24), compensation was paid
for 28,798 livestock kills (average annual kills- 5760 livestock
per year) by lions and leopards, and over 80 % of those were by
the lions. There were rare intentional attacks by lions on human
beings, as most of the attacks were due to human errors or
mischiefs. Payment of adequate compensation plays a crucial
role in mitigating conflicts, but leopard attack on human beings
are a major cause of human-wildlife conflicts. As lions kill blule
bulls and wild boars and protect crops from their raids, people
honor this majestic cat and accept its presence in the villages.
Beyond Gir Protected Areas, the population of blue bull and
wild pig is good, but the other five ungulates are also present
with low density. As per wildlife counting in 2023 by the Gujarat
Forest Department, there were 155,360 wild ungulates outside
the Gir Protected Area in 11 districts of Saurashtra, but the
population of unguarded stray/feral cattle was much more than
the wild ungulates. The dependency of the lions for food beyond
the Gir forest boundaries is mostly on blue bull, wild boar, stray
and domestic cattle, buffalo, and carcasses of the domestic
animals (Jhala et al., 2019; Vasavada et al., 2020). The prevailing
situation in this human-dominated multi-use landscape beyond
the boundaries of Gir Protected Area indicates the scope of
successful lion dispersion in other districts of the Saurashtra
region in the future.

Conclusion
Recovery of artefacts of several wild animals and absence of
any such craft of lion at sites of the Indus-Sarasvati civilization
revealed that the lion was absent or rare in India beyond the
east of the Indus River during the mature age of the civilization.
Subsequently, when many rivers of Indus-Sarasvati system
turned seasonal, discharge of snow water from the Himalayas
declined and dense forests transformed to thorn forests or
savannah like vegetation over a period, lions from the ancient
Persian lands in the west of the Indus River got suitable
environment and opportunity at some times after 2200 BCE
to cross the Indus valley to its eastern lands and entered the
Indian subcontinent, bringing major influx of lion population in
India. After entering the Indian subcontinent from the Persian
region, the lions population reached its peak during the Buddha
period (6th century BCE). Lion distribution and abundance
remained at the peak during the Mauryan and Gupta period
(320 BCE to 550 AD). Hunting records reveal that the lion’s
distribution range was in the entire North-West India, south of
the Ganga River and North of the Narmada River. The records
also reveal that, during the first half of the 19th century AD, lions
were abundant in Haryana, the region around Delhi, Rajasthan,
and a part of Central India and Gujarat.
The period of the Little-Ice Age was over by 1850. Climate
change, loss of habitats, and rampant hunting decimated lions
from their entire distribution range. By 1880, lions were
confined to the Gir-Girnar-Mitiyala landscape with a low
number. As per the observation of naturalists and hunting
records, the Asiatic lion population was at its lowest range
during the period from 1880 to 1920, but several other
observations and records, including the Lion census in 1936
(287 individual lions), indicate that the population of lions
never dropped below 50 individuals. Subsequent scientific
publications have followed a misleading notion that the present
population of the Gir lion was built up from a dozen lions that
survived in the Gir forests. Prevailing dispersion trend and
future vision and plan of the Gujarat State in India for lion
conservation may lead to consistent recovery of lion population
and expansion of distribution range in the entire Saurashtra
region beyond the present Gir Lion Conservation Landscape.

Acknowledgment
I thank Chief Wildlife Warden of Gujarat State and other forest
officials for inviting me as observer for sixteenth lion census and
providing me necessary data and information.

CITATION
Singh, H. S. (2025). Arrival, rise, fall, and again rise
of the Asiatic lion Panthera leo leo in India. Journal
of Wildlife Science, 2(2), 37-45.

Article Orginally PUBLISHED BY
Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 248 001 ,INDIA

https://doi.org/10.63033/JWLS.BHUU5534

EDITED BY
Vishnupriya Kolipakam , Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, India.

COPYRIGHT
© 2025 Dr. Hari Shanker Singh.

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