Bengal tigers are all over India and Asian lions are in a corner. What happened in the middle?

The two cats, the lion and the tiger, have endless topics. One is the flagship species under forest ecosystem, and the other is the flagship species under grassland ecosystem. King? In today's world, it is impossible for liger to meet in the natural state, and it is precisely because of this that it gives people a huge discussion space.

What is the most classic and controversial topic about liger? Liger fights? On the question of who is better, the lion or the tiger, both sides have their own opinions, and no one can convince anyone. They even took out the distribution map of lions and tigers in India today.

Bengal tiger

There is only one country in the world today, India, which has both wild lions and wild tigers. Among them, lions only live in the Gil Forest Reserve in Gujarat, while Indian tigers are distributed in more than 20 reserves, large and small. Compared with lions, Indian tigers can be described as? From the distribution of both sides in all parts of the country, can it be said that tigers are more powerful than lions?

Obviously not. The reason why liger is now distributed in India is very complicated. It can't be explained clearly in one or two sentences, and it has nothing to do with who is a lion and who is a tiger.

Asian lion

The origin and spread of tigers Scientists dare not say that they have fully understood the origin of modern tigers. At present, the hypothesis with the largest number of supporters originated in East Asia, where the South China Tiger lives, which is now Henan.

What is the name of the species that has lived on the earth for more than 3 million years? China ancient cat? A small carnivore, it is the direct ancestor of the modern tiger. After a long evolution, it gradually formed the appearance of the tiger we see today.

Cats in ancient China were very small. If it was placed before the Pleistocene, its competitiveness was very low. Fortunately, after five extinctions on the earth, large carnivores disappeared one after another, and small carnivores rose.

After the emergence of modern tigers, due to the lack of strong competitors, it quickly reached saturation in East Asia. As an exploratory and mobile cat, the tiger spread to the surrounding areas along rivers and forest systems, and finally reached most parts of Asia.

Judging from the pace and path of tiger diffusion, it can be roughly divided into two directions: one is to enter Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent along the south and southwest; The second is to the northwest, through Mongolia, Xinjiang, Central Asia and so on to the southwest of Asia.

South China tiger

In the process of tiger diffusion, due to the different geographical environment, modern tigers eventually developed into nine subspecies, namely: South China Tiger, Northeast Tiger, Bengal Tiger, Indo-China Tiger, Sumatra Tiger, Malay Tiger, Barry Tiger, Li Haihu and Java Tiger. Unfortunately, with the development of the human world, Barry Tiger, Lihai Tiger and Java Tiger appeared in the 1950s, 1980s and 1990s.

It is worth mentioning that although the Indo-Chinese tiger looks like a tiger living in India, it actually has nothing to do with India. There is only one kind of tiger in India, and that is the Bengal tiger.

Nine subspecies of modern tigers

The origin and spread of lions Modern lions appeared in the east and west of Africa about 654.38+0.4 billion years ago. After the appearance of the lion, it also showed a strong expansion ability. They gradually defeated other competitors and occupied other areas of Africa except the Sahara desert, becoming the largest on the prairie. King? .

It is worth mentioning that the lion is the only social animal among cats. They eat a lot and have high requirements on the richness and size of their prey. Lions usually live in open areas, so there are no lions in the rainforests of Africa.

African lion

Lions lived in Africa for millions of years and finally walked out of Africa from North Africa more than 20,000 years ago. Lions set out from North Africa and quickly occupied most of southern Europe. Then they moved eastward along the Asian coastline and reached the Indian subcontinent as far as possible.

Lions, like tigers, are gradually divided into eight subspecies in the process of diffusion and radiation adaptation to other regions, namely East African lions, South African lions, West African lions, Congo lions, Angolan lions, Asian lions, Babalj lions and horned lions. Generally speaking, it can be divided into Asian lions and African lions, among which Asian lions and African lions are very different in appearance, which shows that the male lion has a short mane and can clearly see his ears. The average size of Asian lions is smaller than that of African lions.

Lion diffusion trend chart

Judging from the diffusion direction and time node of the tiger and lion, liger met. They exist in the same domain of Central Asia, Southwest Asia and Indian subcontinent, that is, more than 10,000 years ago in the early Holocene, lions and tigers could meet in the wild.

This gives us unlimited imagination, such as the product of modern artificial environment: tigon, was it wild more than 10,000 years ago? After all, liger also has the same domain distribution! For example, in the pure wild state, do lions and tigers fight? Who won in the end? These are very interesting topics.

Liger homologous distribution map

For example, in the Far East of Russia, the habitats of Siberian tigers and wolves overlap a lot, and there is an obvious negative correlation between them, that is, there is a trade-off.

Before the beginning of the 20th century, a large number of Siberian tigers lived in the Russian Far East. It was observed that the number of wolves was very small at this stage. After entering the 20th century, the number of tigers in Northeast China declined seriously due to the large number of tigers killed in Russia. At this time, it was observed that the number of wolves increased sharply during the period of a large decline of tigers. By the end of 1940s, the number of Siberian tigers in Russia had dropped to the lowest point in history, and the number of gray wolves had reached a new high. Even because there are too many wolves, human survival activities have been affected, so we have to kill some of them artificially. Since the late 1940s, Russia has made great efforts to protect the Northeast Tiger, and the number of tigers has rebounded. At this time, the number of wolves has shown a downward trend. Trend diagram of the number change of Siberian tigers and wolves

Under the same domain distribution, tigers have obvious inhibitory effect on wolves, which is understandable. After all, wolves eat a lot and have a high demand for prey, and after investigation and research by scientists, it is found that wolves have similarities with Siberian tigers in prey preference.

For example, the tiger's favorite prey is red deer, followed by wild boar and roe deer, and the wolf's favorite prey is red deer, followed by fragrant roe deer and wild boar. Therefore, out of the competition for survival resources, the Northeast Tiger will also take the initiative to clear the wolves in the field.

Predation preference of Siberian tigers and wolves

Coincidentally, in the Naliboki forest in Belarus, lynxes are also aiming at wolves everywhere, especially adult male lynxes. In the warm season every year, it is necessary to intensify the killing of lone wolves.

Lynx faces the wolf.

So you live in the same place? A roof? Will there be a conflict between lions and tigers? It won't be a lie at all. In fact, liger is also in the same domain, which is not what we imagined. In fact, if we study the micro-habitat, the habitats of the two do not overlap. Lions and tigers are the largest cats, and they eat a lot, so the prey they kill are mostly medium and large ungulates.

Tigers live alone and ambush their prey, so they live in the forest. They are like a duck to water. Lions live in groups, and most of them catch large prey by simple ambush and chase. Forests with vegetation cannot exert this advantage. In addition, the forest can't satisfy the survival of large herbivores, and naturally it can't satisfy the survival of lions that feed on it. Therefore, lions live in savanna or open areas.

From this point of view, even if lions and tigers are distributed in the same domain in the big environment, their micro-habitats are different from each other, so the probability of disputes is very small.

Lions are hunting outdoors.

Why do Asian lions only live in Gil Forest? With so much background knowledge, let's see why Asian lions live in a certain corner of India, that is, only in the forest of gilson. It all started in the19th century. As mentioned earlier, lions entered Asia from North Africa, where they took root and sprouted, and gradually evolved into a new subspecies: Asian lions.

/kloc-before the 0 th and 9 th centuries, a large number of Asian lions lived in Central Asia and Southwest Asia, and their distribution once extended to the south of Narmada River and the east of Bangladesh. However, with the arrival of European colonists, it brought a devastating disaster to Asian lions.

European colonists were keen on hunting, especially the hunting of large wild animals such as lions, which could well satisfy people's vanity and other desires. As a result, the number of Asian lions declined sharply under the wanton killing of colonists. /kloc-In the 1970s of 0/9, although the number of Asian lions was much lower than the historical situation, it can still be seen in the upper reaches of the Euphrates River. By the end of the century, Asian lions had disappeared in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and other places.

An officer killed an Asian lion.

In fact, not only colonists, but also aborigines in India and other places have the habit of hunting Asian lions. With the appearance of modern firearms, this situation only increases, coupled with the development of the human world, the loss of wildlife habitat and other factors, and finally, by 1907, the entire Asian lion population was only 13 individuals.

1907 is a critical moment for the fate of Asian lions to change, because in this year, India announced the comprehensive protection of Asian lions and banned hunting. By 1908, it made a bold strategy to capture all wild individuals, that is, 13 Asian lions and raise them artificially.

1965 set up the Jill forest wildlife reserve, and its core area was named Jill forest national park. So far, it has become the last home and the only shelter for Asian lions.

Location map of Gil Forest National Park in India

In fact, the early days of Asian lions in Jill Forest Reserve are not easy, because poaching and poaching still exist, and what is more serious is retaliatory killing. Because the early Gil Forest Reserve was inhabited by indigenous Marhari people, they lived a nomadic life, so livestock had a great influence on the life of Asian lions.

A large number of livestock have squeezed the living space of wild ungulates, which leads to the decrease of wild prey of lions and inevitably increases the predation of livestock, so at this stage, livestock account for 75% of the food source of Asian lions. Because the lion preys on livestock, it has brought direct losses to herders, and people have repeatedly banned the retaliatory killing of lions.

1972, Indian banned human activities in Gil Forest National Park, while Mahari people were moved outside, which directly led to the explosive growth of wild ungulates in Gil Forest, with wild boar, gazelle, deer and other animals increasing by 600% compared with the previous total.

However, the number of wild ungulates increased and the number of livestock decreased sharply. The food composition of Asian lions has also undergone earth-shaking changes. The number of livestock that once accounted for 75% has dropped to 25%, and Asian lions have entered a new stage of life. By last year, the number of wild lions was estimated to have reached more than 600.

Asian lions in the forests of gilson

Why didn't the lion expand deeper into the interior of Asia? This will start with the lion's lifestyle. As mentioned earlier, lions are the only cats that live in groups. They hunt in groups and have a great demand for food. On the one hand, it is not conducive to group hunting, on the other hand, there are no large herds in the forest, which can not meet the survival needs of lions. So lions mainly live in open areas, which is the biggest reason why they can't enter the interior of Asia, because the interior of Asia is mostly high mountains and dense forests.

In addition to the above reasons, there is another important reason that lions need a lot of water after eating. Let's look at the distribution area of lions after entering Asia, which basically radiates around the coastline. Most of these areas have tropical monsoon climate, abundant rainfall all the year round and developed water system, which can meet the lion's large demand for water.

In the inland areas of Asia, the rainy season is very short, and drought is common for many years. This kind of living environment obviously can't satisfy the survival of large lions, so lions have been unable to enter the inland areas of Asia.

With the development of the human world, a large number of Asian lions have been killed, and the number has dropped seriously. In addition, due to the decrease of prey, the destruction of forests and the disappearance of natural ecological corridors, Asian lions are even more hopeless? March? Inland, so the final destination can only be Jill forest.

Asian lions in the park are drinking water.

Why are tigers widely distributed in India? It is also a big beast. Why are lions and tigers distributed so differently in India? This is related to the attitude of Indians towards lions and tigers. Simply put, India attaches great importance to tigers and relatively low importance to lions. Heart? This can be seen from many small details.

For example, almost all the Tiger Kings we are familiar with were born in India, such as Chagil, Mullah and Kunda. After Chagil died, the managers of Bandaga National Park even erected a monument for him, and the Indian people also did it for him. Tiger queen? Maggie held a grand funeral, and many people saw her off spontaneously, which shows how high the tiger is in the hearts of Indians.

Tiger queen? Marjory's funeral.

On the other hand, most netizens know that the Asian lion is the pride of Gujarat, and there is almost nothing to call it? The lion king? .

In fact, it is. India attaches more importance to tigers than lions, as can be seen from the relevant funds allocated. During the period of 2003-20 12, India spent more than 7.5 billion rupees on tiger protection, which is about 98 million dollars at the current exchange rate, but much less on lions.

There is another reason why tigers can spread in India. Due to the disappearance of glaciers more than 10,000 years ago and the rise of prehistoric humans, the cave lions living here became extinct and gave way to tigers. The cave lion is not a lion, but a huge prehistoric cat, which is no less powerful than the tiger.

The topography of India is mostly plains, mountains and plateaus. Plains and open areas are suitable for lions to survive, while densely forested areas such as mountains are suitable for tigers to survive. So is there more open areas or forests in India? Friends who are familiar with geography know that there were many forests in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene.

Bengal tiger

Even now, India's ecology is relatively good, and there are complete ecological corridors between ecological reserves, which can be used for the spread, migration and even survival of wild animals.

For example, at 20 13, a male Bengal tiger in India ran 650 kilometers, and another Bengal tiger broke the record last year. This time, it walked more than 2,000 kilometers and shuttled between many wildlife reserves such as Danyang Nanjia.

Besides marveling at the tiger's feat, we should also be aware of the advantages of India's wild environment. After all, in modern society, a tiger can walk so many kilometers without violent conflict with human beings. In addition to people's awareness of protection, the most important thing is to have a relatively perfect ecological corridor for animals to spread.

Bengal tiger C 1, a walking record.

Bengal tigers in India are widely distributed in more than 20 wildlife reserves or national parks across the country. Under the strong protection of people, it lives well now.

However, Asian lions only live in Gil Forest. Although it has been suggested that in order to better protect Asian lions, the protection should be decentralized, that is, after the Gil Forest National Park is saturated, some Asian lions will be transported to Madhya Pradesh, leaving a protected area for their lives. To this end, Madhya Pradesh has also actively made some preparations. Later, due to some economic interests, this proposal was shelved, because for Gujarat, Asian lions are the biggest tourist feature in the region.

Therefore, the reasons behind why Bengal tigers can spread all over India and lions can only be local are very complicated. In addition to historical evolution and people's preferences, there are many comprehensive effects such as economic interests.