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Historically, the Asiatic lion (*Panthera leo persica*) roamed across a vast territory from the Middle East to the Indian subcontinent, reaching as far east as Bengal. Today, the entire wild population is found only in the state of Gujarat, India.
This restriction is not due to a natural preference for the Gir landscape, but rather a history of intensive hunting, followed by a pivotal conservation decision that saved the species from extinction.
Why did the Asiatic lion disappear everywhere else?
During the 19th century, the Asiatic lion was hunted on a massive scale. Because lions live in open grasslands and scrub forests, and move in social prides, they were much easier to track and shoot than the solitary, forest-dwelling tiger.
British colonial officers and Indian royalty hunted lions as a symbol of status. As human populations expanded, the open plains the lions required were also converted into agricultural land. By the turn of the 20th century, the species had been wiped out everywhere except for a small pocket in the princely state of Junagadh in Gujarat. Estimates suggest that at their lowest point around 1900, only 20 to 50 Asiatic lions remained in the wild (The Better India).
How did the Nawabs of Junagadh save the lion?
The survival of the Asiatic lion is one of the most successful wildlife recoveries in history, and it began with the local royalty.
Nawab Muhammad Rasul Khanji of Junagadh realised that the lions were on the brink of extinction. In the early 1900s, he formally banned lion hunting within his territory and established the Gir forest as a protected area. When Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India, was invited for a lion hunt in 1901, he declined the invitation and instead urged the Nawab to protect the remaining animals.
The subsequent ruler, Nawab Mahabat Khanji III, strictly enforced these bans, famously refusing hunting permits to powerful Indian Maharajas and British officials. He also oversaw the first official census in 1936, which recorded a recovering population of 287 lions (The Better India). After India's independence, the government upheld these protections, eventually creating the Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary.
How did the population recover under Project Lion?
Thanks to continuous conservation efforts, now formalised under the government's Project Lion, the numbers have steadily climbed.
According to the 16th Lion Population Estimation conducted in May 2025, the Asiatic lion population has grown to 891 individuals (Chief Minister's Office, Gujarat). This represents a 32.2% increase from the 674 lions counted in 2020. The lions have also naturally expanded their range beyond the core national park, now covering approximately 35,000 square kilometres across Gujarat, including coastal areas and the Barda Wildlife Sanctuary.
What is the risk of keeping a species in one place?
While the population recovery is a conservation triumph, having an entire wild species concentrated in a single geographic region carries severe biological risks.
Because all 891 living Asiatic lions (Chief Minister's Office, Gujarat) are descended from the tiny group of survivors from the early 1900s, the species suffers from a severe genetic bottleneck. This loss of genetic diversity means the lions share very similar immune systems, making them highly vulnerable to infectious diseases.
This danger became a reality in 2018 when an outbreak of Canine Distemper Virus (CDV), combined with a tick-borne infection, swept through the Gir forest. The Gujarat government officially confirmed that the epidemic killed 34 Asiatic lions (India Today). The outbreak highlighted the extreme risk of having the species in only one location—a single large-scale epidemic or natural disaster could wipe out the entire wild population.
For students learning biology, this history is a textbook example of the founder effect and the bottleneck effect. If you are preparing for exams and need to map out how population genetics work, the Fermi Concept Library has a lesson on these evolutionary mechanisms so you can see how historical events shape a species' DNA. Understanding why the Asiatic lion is an endemic species rather than just an endangered one helps clarify why ecologists have spent decades arguing for a second, separate lion population to be established elsewhere in India.
How can you study population genetics for exams?
When a species like the Asiatic lion goes through a near-extinction event, it becomes a perfect case study for biology exams. Use this checklist to test your understanding of the topic:
Identify the mechanism: Is the scenario describing the bottleneck effect (a disaster reducing the population) or the founder effect (a small group migrating to a new area)?
Track the alleles: Explain what happens to genetic variation. (Answer: Allele frequencies change drastically, and rare alleles may be lost entirely).
Link to immunity: Write down why low genetic diversity is dangerous. (Answer: The population lacks the genetic variety needed to resist new diseases, as seen in the 2018 CDV outbreak).
Define the terms: Be ready to distinguish between an endangered species (at risk of extinction) and an endemic species (found only in one specific geographic area).
