Social organization and dispersal of Asiatic lion and ecological monitoring of Gir

Abstract

Project titled ‘Social Organization and dispersal of Asiatic lion’ was initiated in 2002 by the Wildlife Institute of India in collaboration with the Gujarat Forest Department. Continuous record of lion demographic and population parameters, ungulate density and distribution, livestock-ungulate interaction and the study of male ranging patterns and resource utilization with the help of radio- telemetry have been some of the achievements of the project in the past five years. The project had established two research-bases at Sasan Gir (West Gir) and Tulsi Shyam (East Gir) respectively to meet the added project objective of project “Ecological monitoring of the Gir” in 2003. This component included studies on livestock-wild ungulate interaction, Maldhari-lion interaction, refinement of protocols for lion monitoring and mapping of peripheral areas of Gir which were considered important by the Gujarat Forest department and The Wildlife Institute of India.