World Lion Day, 2022
Recently, ‘World Lion Day’ is celebrated every year on 10 August to make people aware and educate about lions and their conservation.
The initiative to conserve lions was started in the year 2013 and the first ‘World Lion Day’ was also organized in the same year.
An opportunity to understand the place or importance of lions in the ecological cycle, as well as their extinction, can be a dangerous signal for humans.
Lions were found in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East about three million years ago, although their numbers have declined by about 95% over the course of five decades.
The scientific name of the lion is Panthera leo, the lion is classified into two subspecies – the African lion (Panthera leo leo) and the Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica).
Asiatic lions are relatively smaller than African lions. The most striking morphological feature found in Asiatic lions is that they have distinctive vertical folds on their abdominal skin. This trait is quite rare in African lions.
Conservation status: African lions are listed as ‘vulnerable’ in the IUCN Red List, and Asiatic lions are endangered.
CITES: Appendix-I for Indian population and Appendix-II for all other
Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972: Lion has been kept in the first schedule.
Status in India: India is home to Asiatic Lions, which reside in the protected area of Sasan-Gir National Park (Gujarat). According to the data of the year 2020, the number of lions in India is 674, which were 523 in the year 2015.
Source – The Hindu
