PIB Tracker891 lions, and a range that has outgrown Gir
On World Lion Day the Environment Ministry put the Asiatic lion at 891, up from 523 in 2015, with the range expanding from about 30,000 sq km in 2020 to nearly 35,000 sq km under Project Lion.
What happened
- The Environment Minister said the Asiatic lion population rose from 523 in 2015 to 891 in 2025.
- Project Lion was announced on 15 August 2020 for long-term conservation.
- The lion range expanded from about 30,000 sq km in 2020 to nearly 35,000 sq km.
- The project takes a landscape-level, holistic approach to conservation.
- It covers habitat enhancement, disease monitoring, veterinary support and community involvement.
For Prelims
- Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica): survives as a single wild population in the Gir landscape of Saurashtra, Gujarat.
- The numbers: 523 (2015) to 891 (2025); range from about 30,000 to nearly 35,000 sq km.
- Project Lion: announced 15 August 2020 — landscape-level conservation, not protected-area-only.
- IUCN status: the lion is listed Endangered; it is a Schedule I species under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
- World Lion Day: observed on 10 August.
- Why disease monitoring matters: the 2018 canine distemper virus outbreak in Gir killed a significant number of lions.
- Related: Project Tiger (1973), Project Elephant (1992), Project Cheetah and Project Dolphin form the species-programme family.
For UPSC: The species-conservation success story to keep ready. Use it for single-population risk and the translocation debate, landscape-level versus protected-area conservation, human-wildlife coexistence outside notified areas, and disease as a conservation threat.
What it is NOT: Range expansion is not the same as habitat protection — most of the added range is human-shared countryside outside protected areas, and the lion remains a single wild population vulnerable to one epidemic or fire.
For Mains
Syllabus: GS3.14 · GS2.10 · Linkage L1
Anchor
The lion's recovery is real — and it has been achieved by the animal moving out, not by the protected area getting bigger.
Substantiation (data)
From 523 lions in 2015 to 891 in 2025, with range up from about 30,000 sq km in 2020 to nearly 35,000 sq km.
Exemplification
Project Lion's design — disease monitoring, veterinary support, benefit sharing — reads as a response to the 2018 canine distemper outbreak and to lions living among people.
Problematisation
A single wild population in one landscape remains one epidemic or one fire away from catastrophe, and the second-home translocation ordered by the Supreme Court in 2013 has still not happened.
Way-forward
Establish a genuinely separate second population, formalise compensation and coexistence protocols in the expanded range, and keep disease surveillance permanent.
Position
Conservation succeeds when a species stops needing a fence — but insurance against extinction still requires a second address.
Deploys into: Conservation + government interventions (GS3.14, GS2.10) · single-population risk and translocation, landscape-level conservation, and human-wildlife coexistence.
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change · 2026-08-10 · PRID 2296978 · PIB source ↗