Asiatic Lion: On the Brink

"It is a comprehensive book of an area that celebrates unique symbiotic relationship between man and the most magnificent species of cat family, the Lion. Exhaustive research and statistical analysis exemplifies that a country, which shares three per cent of world’s land area with twenty per cent of world’s population, some aura or religious belief or perceptions are a must to sustain the green cover. Gir, located in the Saurashtra peninsula of Gujarat State, is renowned world over as the most successful conservation saga and this work is pioneer in resurrecting Gir as it was, as it is and as it will be under multifarious influences. It is difficult to deny that the forest has been preserved because of `the King’ yet even the Lion’s awesome presence cannot overwhelm the pulchritude of the ‘changing faces of Gir’. Though the beauty of the book lies in the ease with which historical facts are entwined with scientific basis to give an in depth and comprehensive picture. Knowledge of the bygone years is a must to refrain from committing the same mistakes and evolve logical strategies for future. Relocation is one such highly debated issue that assumes new parameters with the findings of this book. In addition the chapters trace different aspects of Gir and animal world through anecdotes in a way that it seeps down the conscience and tugs the strings of heart. Most significant of all is the scientific and historical explanation of well known but hardly explored perceptions like ‘Lion the King, taming the King, Lion the man eater and traces of African origin in Asiatic Lion’. This is followed by the evolutionary history of Lion and the eventual developments leading to the name ‘Panthera leo persica’. "