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Chinkara |
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Crested Serpent Eagle |
The Lions of theGir Forest enjoyed a long history of protection from the former local rulers and it is undoubtedly due to theiractions that a relict population has been able to survive. A disastrous drought brought the lion numbers down to a mere 20 by the start of the 20th Century, but since then their fortunes have prospered and it is estimated that there are now over 400 of them in the Gir National Park .The Gir National park supports a great diversity of mammals including Sambar, Chital, Nilgai, Chinkara, Four-horned Antelope and Wild Boar. With such an abundance of prey it is little surprise that Leopards maintain good numbers in the forests and a few packs of Striped Hyaena seek to scavenge any leftovers from the big cats’ meals.Big cat numbers wise, The Gir National Park perhaps has the highest number amongst all Indian Wildlife reserves .
The star attraction of Gir remains the Asiatic Lions , but there is also very good Bird watching in the Gir National Park -- the park checklist has 250 birds and about 50 other species (including the endangered lesser florican and the saras crane) are recorded in the grasslands along the periphery of the sanctuary. Long-billed vulture, Indian white-backed vulture, red-headed (king) vulture, Eurasian griffon vulture, changeable hawk-eagle, crested serpent eagle, bonneli's eagle, greater spotted eagle, lesser spotted eagle, tawny eagle, steppe eagle, imperial eagle, Pallas's fish eagle, grey-headed fish eagle, osprey, peregrine falcon, laggar falcon, red-headed falcon, oriental honey-buzzard, white-eyed buzzard and other raptors have been seen in the sanctuary.
