Everyone knows about lions. But not these ones. This isn’t Africa, it’s India and lions have a much tougher time here. This is the story of a lioness who leads a pride in a world that belongs to humans. She has to stand up for herself to survive and raise cubs. With no male to protect her, she’s on her own.
In Gir National Park, male lions don’t have as much power as their African counterparts. Females hold prides together and ensure the rise of lion dynasties. While African lions tend to hunt in numbers, overwhelming big prey with brute force, in India males are often absent, wandering alone over huge territories. It is the lionesses which form the social glue of the pride. One of them, Noor is a stand-out. She’s fiercely independent and a skilled hunter.
She has to be politically savvy to ensure the survival of her family. Male lions will kill cubs that aren’t theirs, so she must choose her company carefully. Her aim is to manipulate the attentions of an old territorial male while positioning her cub for greatness.
The seasons in India also bring different challenges to those of African lions. Wet monsoons and devastatingly dry winters mean that food is either easy to find, or incredibly difficult to catch. This feast or famine lifestyle forces India’s lions to think out of the box – venturing into cities at night to hunt livestock. It’s a risky way of life, only made possible by the forgiving attitudes of the Indian people. Human-lion conflict is rare and lions are largely respected by the villagers. After all they are the ones encroaching on the lion’s territory.
This unconventional lion story paints a very different picture of the King of Beasts. Life for lions in India is hard, complicated and ever changing.