Giving details about the census, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said the population of Asiatic lions in Gir forests of Junagadh district and adjoining areas has doubled in last 30 years. “Contrary to the general trend of dwindling lion population across the country and the world, the result in Gujarat is totally reverse and we have seen a healthy and encouraging growth rate in their population here,” Modi told reporters here.
The 2010 census said that Gir forests, the last abode of the Asiatic lion, have a total of 411 lions which includes 77 cubs, 120 males, 185 lionesses and 29 lions whose sex could not be ascertained. The census was conducted in Gir National Park Sanctuary and adjoining areas, Girnar sanctuary, Mitiyala Sanctuary, coastal areas in Una, Kodinar, Sutrapada, Savarkundla, Lilia (in Junagadh) and adjoining areas of Bhavnagar and Amreli districts.
“This census has given interesting details of the age-wise ratio of lions. There are 77 cubs of less then one year age,” Modi said.
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