I am pretty sure, India want to see Lions chasing Langurs over trees.
Well, before discussing anything further, I would like to place some
facts about the prey list and hunting procedures of the majestic beast
"Lions" which will in turn brief you some more facts about Lion and prey
behavior. If you google about the prey list of Lions, hopefully you
would find many listing them, but what's new here is we would discuss
them in depth. Prey list of Lions totally depend as how they hunt, and
hunting procedures are again related to the prey density where they
survive.
Africa (Tanzania, Botswana, Mara etc.) offers too widely stretched land
(rocky mountain, savannah, grassland, desert, dense forest). But Lions
do live in some very specific places. To know where Lions live, click
here. However Lions always choose to live where there is plenty of prey (which they prefer to have).
African & Asiatic Lions' hunt
Lions
(males) do prefer to rest a lot and not to waste more energy on chasing
preys, since they know that Lionesses of his/ their pride have to bring
eatables for their cubs. Accordingly, Lionesses too know that Lions
won't participate in hunting so they tend to bring a lot of food which
can satisfy them, the cubs and more precisely, the pride owners (Lions)
obviously in return of protection by them from other males. In order to
bring back so much of food, Lionesses hunt in groups (group may vary
from 2-10) to bring down big animals such as Zebra, Buffaloes, Wild
beasts, Warthogs, Nilgai etc. However, they can also bring down huge
animals such as Giraffes, Elephants, Rhinos, Hippos etc while in
scarcity of prey, as there's a famous saying in Hindi "Marta kya naa
karta" (When it's up to ones life, one may do anything to survive). This
need turned them social, as hunting alone can only bring down small
preys such as Antelopes, Wild boars, Rabbits, Sambhar, Chital etc. It's
not that they don't hunt these small preys in groups, but the group size
is directly proportional to the prey to bring down. Having said
this, usually African Lion prides consists 5-20 members (including their
cubs) while Asiatic prides usually holds 3-10 in a pride. This directly
makes us understand their prey type. Now since we are known of the prey
type of Lions in different regions, it's time to know which are the
preys which Lions chase the most and why.
Asiatic
Lions hence targets primarily on few animals such as Chitals, Sambhars,
Wild pigs. However, they also don't hesitate in scavenging preys,
brought down by other predators/ big cats, or naturally dead, which may
include anything.
Asiatic Lions' choice
Asiatic
Lions precisely chase Chitals and Sambhars. Reason behind this is, in
India, Chitals (or spotted deers) and Sambhars are abundant so can be
found easily. However, as per Chitals and Sambhars behavior, they do
prefer to roam in and around big thick trees (which is often not a
lovable place for Lions) for reasons. Reason being Monkeys and Langurs.
Monleys and Langurs often drop leaves from trees which make easy food
for the Cheetals (lazy lads), and also the Langurs make alarm calls as
soon as they see any predator near to them. So catching Chitals and
Sambhars has never been an eazy job for the Lions in such locations.
The only exception, when Lions can
chase down Chitals is when they roam in open savannah or grassland
(which happens very often), come in group for quenching their thirst
(often at early morning, afternoon or early night), or while grazing at
night (when they loose their areal eyes i.e. Langurs). Big cats do
have a very good night vision as compared to Chitals/ Sambhars. Other
reason for which Lions avoid hunting in dense forests is due to their
bulky body, they can't chase zig zag too much (being trees the main
hurdles) while Chitals/ Sambhars are pretty expert in that, hence, they
prefer to get down the prey while chasing them in open (along with a
strong group attack strategy/ planning). Despite of so much trouble
Asiatic Lions prefer these both because once they get hold of them, just
with a single hard bite of canine can damage their spine or choke their
breath to bring them down, while they have to fight a lot for Wild
boars, Neelgais etc. Therefore, Asiatic Lions avoid chasing big bodies.
It's found that 20% approx food for Asiatic Lions is contributed by
cattle from the nearby/ adjacent villages of Gir forest, which is again
an easy prey for the beasts which they can't miss. Given the chance, and
if the Lion is injured/ old, they may also raise the percentage from
20% to 50% or even more, so we should always consider easy prey in the
prey list of any big cat.
Lion hunting Langurs?
When
I came to know that Wildlife experts of Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary
included "Langurs" while making a list of prime prey density for Lions,
just in order to increase the figures to make their debate stronger.
However, a biologist is expected to know all the above facts even more
deeply than it's mentioned above. A Langur should always be considered
as a spoil sport for any big cat. In fact Lanhurs can also force Lions
to starve for days alarming the deers which Lions do chase for. There is
no possibility for a Lion to chase a Langur (I mean come on.. this is
just as driving my car from earth to moon..). Yes, you might have seen a
Lion having feast on Langur, but that is only when they scavenge it
from Leopards/ Hyenas (who may likely killed it) or may have hunted an
injured Langur (over land, not on trees). There have been incidents,
when Lions killed Langurs while they were quenching their thirst (that
too if the Langur was not alert at all, which happens once in a blue
moon, or couldn't run back that fast). Except mentioned I don't think
there must be any possibility when a Lion can have feast on Langur, and
that doesn't gives liberty to claim Langur as Lions prime prey. Below
listed is the prey base chart which was provided.
Species Population Density/Sq.km.± Standard Error
Chital 51.59 ± 8.84
Sambhar 3.59 ± 1.01
Nilgai 2.32 ± 0.59
Wild Pig 4.68 ± 1.54
Chinkara 0.99 ± 0.35
Langur 17.2 ± 4.6
Peafowl 6.44 ± 2.34
Feral Cattle 1.83 ± 0.77
If
Indian biologists are including Langurs as Lions "MAIN PREY LIST",
hopefully we would be soon seeing Asiatic Lions jumping over the trees
of Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary, again, which would be an unbelievable
sighting which may fail all rules of Nature. So, be prepared to experience the thrill soon.
