The traffic on the Bhavnagar-Somnath Highway in Gujarat stopped briefly today after an Asiatic lion was spotted walking on the road in surprise, halting the movement of vehicles for at least 15 minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ‘king of the jungle’ was seen crossing a bridge and cars, trucks and bikes stopped to let the lion cross the highway. The video was shot from a car that had stopped on the other side of the road. The incident took place in Gujarat’s Amreli district.<\/p>\n

The lion walked towards a temple down the slope adjacent to the highway.<\/p>\n

Earlier a total of six lions and lionesses were spotted in a residential area late at night in the district. A CCTV showed a cattle on the street chased by lions and lionesses.<\/p>\n

Wildlife movement is increasing in the Amreli district. Recently, a lion was stopped on a bridge near the Dudhala village in the district. Several lions have been injured and a few have died due to their unexpected movement on the Bhavnagar-Somnath highway.<\/p>\n

Videos of lions straying into residential areas and preying on domesticated cattle in villages on the border of Gir have become a common sight.<\/p>\n

Gujarat is the world’s last abode of Asiatic lions and Girnar forests is home to more than 50 free-ranging Asiatic lions. Lions are usually spotted in this region in the dead of the night.<\/p>\n

The Gir Forest National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary, also known as Sasan-Gir, is known as the “last abode” of Asiatic lions. The last surviving population of the Asiatic lions is a compact tract of dry deciduous forest and open grassy scrublands in the southwestern part of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat.<\/p>\n

The lions are now distributed in nine districts of the state – Junagadh, Gir Somnath, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Botad, Porbandar, Jamnagar, Rajkot and Surendranagar – covering around 30,000 square km of area, which is termed the Asiatic Lion Landscape.<\/p>\n

– with inputs from Mahendra Prasad\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u200bThe traffic on the Bhavnagar-Somnath Highway in Gujarat stopped briefly today after an Asiatic lion was spotted walking on the road in surprise, halting the movement of vehicles for at least 15 minutes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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