India Had 20 Lions Left In One Forest — What They Did to the Deer Changed Everything
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In 1900, fewer than 20 Asiatic lions were left in the world — all of them in a small patch of dry forest in western India. Today there are 891, and some of them are swimming to islands. What happened between 20 and 891 starts with a prince who banned hunting, and ends with something the census report listed almost as a footnote.
Sources:
Gujarat Forest Department — 16th Asiatic Lion Census 2025 (891 lions, 32.2% increase)
downtoearth.org.in/wildlife-biodiversity/asiatic-lion-population-in-gujarat-rises-from-674-to-891-in-5-years-spreading-beyond-traditional-habitats
Mongabay India — Asiatic lions expanding beyond protected areas (January 2026)
india.mongabay.com/2026/01/majority-of-asiatic-lions-are-found-outside-gir-protected-areas
Felidae Conservation Fund — Asiatic lion history, early population, conservation timeline
felidaefund.org/news/the-last-lions-of-asia-can-one-forest-hold-their-future
Jhala et al. (2019) — Asiatic lion ecology, economics, and politics of conservation
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 7: 312
Singh, H.S. (2025) — Arrival, rise, fall, and rise of the Asiatic lion in India
Journal of Wildlife Science
National Geographic — Gir forest lions, $40M protection programme, 900K tourists
nationalgeographic.com
Video production:
Narration generated with AI voice technology. All research, scripting, and editorial decisions are original.
#AsiaticLion #GirForest #Rewilding