World Lion Day is an annual observance and the day will be celebrated on Tuesday, 10th August 2021. This day is an opportunity to celebrate the king of the jungle and raise awareness about its wellbeing and conservation. On this day you can voice concern about the threats faced by lions such as poaching, habitat destruction, human-lion conflict. The big cat is listed as an endangered species in the IUCN Red List. Asiatic lion is one of the five big cats that are found in India. The other four are the Royal Bengal tiger, Indian leopard, clouded leopard and snow leopard.
India's lion count goes up by 29 per cent
In India, lions are currently found in the protected areas and agro-pastoral landscape of Gujarat’s Saurashtra region. According to the latest figures, India recorded the highest ever increase, 29 percent, in its lion population from 523 in 2015 to 674 in 2020. Of the 674, 206 are males, 309 females, 137 cubs and rest are unidentified. The conservation success can be attributed to people’s participation, use of technology, increase in prey base, human-lion conflict mitigation etc.
Importance of lions
Lions are the apex predator of their habitat. They check the population of grazers, thus helping in maintaining ecological balance. Lions also keep the population of their preys healthy and resilient as they target weakest members of the herd. This indirectly helps in disease control in the prey population.
Challenges
The increase in the lion population in Gujarat has given rise to new challenges. The animals have come closer to humans as they have started venturing far out of the protected areas in search of territory and prey. Several incidents of lion deaths due to electrocution, railway and road accidents have come to light. Occasional cases of poisoning have also been reported.
Interesting Facts about Lions
· Weighing up to 500 pounds and growing up to 10 ft long, lion is the second-largest member of the cat family after the tiger.
· They can vocalize right after their birth but cannot roar until they are about one year old, and their roar can be heard up to 5 miles away.
· They are the only cats that regularly live in social groups and their groups are called prides. The size of a typical pride is usually between 10 to 15 animals but it can vary between 2 to 40 members.
· The male lions of Tsavo, Kenya are maneless.
· While running they can attain a top speed of 81 km/h.
· In a pride, females do most of the hunting and cub rearing and males defend the pride territory. · While females live with the pride for life, males usually leave the pride when they are a few years old.
· Although lions consume about 20 pounds of meat a day, some are capable of devouring nearly 100 pounds a day.
· Many females give birth at the same time in a pride, so the cubs nurse from other females as well.
References: ·
https://www.timesnownews.com/ ·
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