ASIATIC LIONS

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• Recently, eight Asiatic lions at Hyderabad’s Nehru Zoological Park have tested positive for the deadly coronavirus.
• It is the first known case of the human infecting the felines and making them sick in India.
• Earlier in 2020, Tiger being infected with Covid-19 was reported in New York (Bronx Zoo).

Important points:

• The Asiatic Lion (also known as the Persian Lion or Indian Lion) is a member of the Panthera Leo Leo subspecies that is restricted to India.
• Its previous habitats consisted of West Asia and the Middle East before it became extinct in these regions.
• Asiatic lions are slightly smaller than African lions.
• The most striking morphological character, which is always seen in Asiatic lions, and rarely in African lions, is a longitudinal fold of skin running along its belly.
• Asiatic lions were once distributed to the state of West Bengal in east and Rewa in Madhya Pradesh, in central India.
• At present Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary is the only abode of the Asiatic lion.
• In 2020, the Gujarat Forest Department announced an increase in the population of Asiatic lions in the Gir forest region.

Threats:

Its vulnerability to unpredictable events such as a plague or a natural disaster, poaching and locals near the Gir National Park killing the lions in retaliation for attacks on livestock.

Protection Status:

IUCN Red List: Endangered

CITES: Appendix I

Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972: Schedule I

 

Conservation Efforts:

• The “Asiatic Lion Conservation Project” has been launched by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
• It has been approved for three financial years from 2018 to 2021.
• It envisages scientific management with the involvement of communities in coordination with multi-sectoral agencies for disease control and veterinary care for overall conservation of Asiatic lions.

Nehru Zoological Park

• It is one of the largest zoos of India and one of the top sightseeing places to visit in Hyderabad, Telangana. Run by the Forest department, Government of Telangana, the zoo has been named after Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of the country.
• It was opened to the public in the year of 1963.
• It is situated near the historically important Mir Alam Tank, which is 200 year old and is the first multi-arch masonry dam in the world.

SOURCE: THE HINDU , THE ECONOMIC TIMES ,MINT