Context:
Union Government approves funding for Project Lion to enhance conservation efforts
Project Lion:
- Launched in 2020
- Envisages landscape ecology-based conservation of the Asiatic Lion in Gujarat by integrating conservation and eco-development.
- Implemented in the Gir landscape in Gujarat
- Objectives –
- To secure & restore lions’ habitats for managing its growing population.
- Scale up livelihood generation and participation of local communities.
- Become a global hub of knowledge on big cat disease diagnostics and treatment.
Lions:
- Live in prides in grasslands and plains.
- Males patrol and proclaim their territory through scent marking.
- Do not have a specific breeding season
- Apex predator of their habitat, and are responsible for checking the population of grazers, thus helping in maintaining the ecological balance.
- The lion census is conducted once every 5 years.
Asiatic Lions:
- Smaller in size compared to African lions.
- 1 among the 5 big cats found in India
- Gir National Park – Only abode of the Asiatic lion
- Protection Status –
- IUCN Red List: Vulnerable
- CITES: Appendix I
- Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972: Schedule I
- “Asiatic Lion Conservation Project” – Launched by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
Source: HT
Previous Year Question
Consider the following statements:
1. Lions do not have a particular breeding season.
2. Unlike most other big cats, cheetahs do not roar.
3. Unlike male lions, male leopards do not proclaim their territory by scent marking.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2024 Prelims]
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer: (a)
Explanation:
Statement 3 is not correct: Leopards are territorial and mark their territory with faeces, urine and cheek-rubbing on trees. They can also leave scrape markings on the ground, trees or logs. This communicates to other leopards passing through that the territory they are in is occupied.