Asiatic Lion Translocation to Kuno Palpur

Every wild Asiatic lion on Earth lives in one forest in Gujarat. A single disease outbreak there could end the subspecies entirely.

An Asiatic male lion in Gir Forest National Park, Gujarat, the species’ only wild home. A translocation plan aims to establish a second population. Photo by Sumeet Moghe, via Wikimedia Commons. Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

📑 Contents

1Must Know
2Good to Know
3Test Yourself
4Great to Know
5Previous Year Questions

🏛️ Must Know

Where Gujarat’s Lions Would Move To

Kuno Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary The proposal was to translocate lions from Gujarat’s Gir forest. Their destination was Kuno Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh.
Only Wild Population on Earth The Asiatic lion survives in the wild only in and around Gir, Gujarat. That leaves the entire species vulnerable to one localized disaster.
Not Other Reserves Corbett, Mudumalai, and Sariska are real reserves, but none was the actual translocation site proposed for these lions.
A Supreme Court Order India’s Supreme Court ordered the translocation to establish a second wild population and reduce extinction risk.

Good to Know

📘 Good to Know

Why Kuno Was Chosen

Decades in Planning Kuno was identified as a lion translocation site nearly 29 years earlier. It was finally deemed ready only recently.
A Real Carrying-Capacity Limit Kuno’s current carrying capacity is around 40 lions, though scientists estimate long-term viability needs closer to 80.
Gujarat’s Reluctance Gujarat has repeatedly resisted the transfer, treating the Asiatic lion as a state heritage asset.

📝 Previous Year Questions

UPSC CSP 2017 — The Proposed Lion Translocation Site

UPSC 2017 The proposal was to translocate Asiatic lions from Gujarat to Kuno Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary. See UPSC CSP 2017 GS Paper I, Q95. View this question.
UPSC 2019 The Asiatic lion is naturally found in India only among big cats — unlike the double-humped (Bactrian) camel, which also occurs naturally outside India in Central Asia. View this question.

Test Yourself

Great to Know

🌟 Great to Know

Why a Single Population Is So Risky

One Disease Away A single epidemic, natural disaster, or prey decline in Gir could threaten the entire wild Asiatic lion population at once.
A Slow, Politically Fraught Journey The lions’ proposed relocation covers over 1,100 kilometres, delayed for years by legal and political disputes.
Connects to Other PYQ Facts This single-population extinction risk mirrors the logic behind other endangered-species PYQs, like the hard-ground barasingha’s near-collapse in Kanha.

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