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Wildlife enthusiasts in India awoke to the cheery news on April 16, 2013 that the Supreme Court allowed translocation of Asiatic Lions from Gujarat to Madhya Pradesh saying the species faced the threat of extinction and needed a second home. It gave the wildlife authorities six months to complete the process. The sole surviving population of approximate 300 of this species inhabiting the Gir, had sprung from one common bloodline of 20 odd animals, starting in 1901. Implicit in that genetic fact lies the potential hazard that they can be wiped out altogether, in one single epidemic. Axiomatically, preparations were set afoot earnestly in 1995 to create a viable second home in Madhya Pradesh (stocked with adequate prey-base) at Palanpur Kuno, a stronghold of the lion till the 1860s. Efforts to translocate a breeding nucleus of two male and six females from Gir to Kuno were scuttled by the Chief Minister of Gujarat. Monarch of all he surveys We do not know why emperor Asoka installed the lion atop the pillars bearing his edicts, in 3 BC. Maybe, he chanced upon a male lion standing atop a mound, watching over a vast plain stretching to the far distant horizon, conveying the idea of kingly self-assurance, feudal overlordship and pride with dignity. Twenty two centuries later, the stylised lion of Asoka’s pillars, also became the symbol of the Sovereign, Socialist Republic of India in 1952. It became an article of faith with us that the Asiatic lion shall have a permanent home in India. Pride of place The Asiatic lion has a close-cropped coat, uniformly tawny or dark brown on the upper body and flanks, off-white on the belly and a long tail, ending in a prominent tuft of hair, of darker shade than the body. The male differs from the female because of the distinctive, golden-blond mane on the head and neck (with age in some cases, it turns jet black), and a blond tuft on the elbows, as well. Their cubs, an average of three per litre, have thick off-white pelts with faint grey spots; they are born blind and remain helpless and vulnerable for about three months. Perhaps this is the reason that lions have evolved into a close-knit social group called the "pride", comprising about 15 animals. All females of the pride share equally in the raising of the young, much as elephants do. Cubs spend a great deal of time in playful pranks, grappling and swatting one another or clawing the hindquarters of a walking lioness. Besides guarding them in infancy, lionesses often indulge their cubs in play; they twitch their tail tuft enticing the cubs to grab it but jerking it out of their grasp at the nick of time! The male protects the pride from predators. Hope for the lion There was a time when the Asiatic lion, as the name implies, was a common occurrence in today’s Turkey, through Middle East to Iran, Baluchistan and from North-Western India through the Gangetic plain up to Jharkhand-Orissa. Sadly, by the first decade of the 20th Century all that remained of the Asiatic lion in the world were less than just 25 animals, confined to the Gir forests of Junagadh in Gujarat. Fortunately, Lord Curzon the then Viceroy of India realised that the species was at the cusp of extinction. So when the Nawab of Junagadh invited Lord Curzon for a lion hunt during the Christmas week in 1901, not only did Curzon decline the invitation but personally convinced the Nawab to provide state protection to the Gir lions and save them for posterity. Their number has increased to around 300 is a tribute both to the statesmanship of Lord Curzon as also the steadfast patronage of the Gir lions thenceforth by the successive nawabs. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India showed similar resolve by insisting upon a National Action Plan which created conditions for the lion to survive in its last niche earth. Now, we may proudly call it the Indian lion, similar to its cousin, the African lion. We can savour the moments before the crack of dawn in the Gir forest when silence is all-pervasive, and the sudden first roar of the Asiatic lion evokes unique primordial emotions of awe, deep down from the pit of one’s stomach. On a lucky day when one or more lions reciprocate singly or in tandem, that ensuing crescendo of lion roars becomes a sublime experience of once a lifetime; the sound fades away but its lingering auditory resonance in the surrounding ether remain imprinted in memory for ever. Hopefully, a decade hence the Asiatic lions of Kuno too, will replicate that inimitable experience.
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