Mumbai, June 15: Long viewed as an oddity, the small population of Asia’s last lions living in isolation in Gujarat’s Gir region is periodically buffeted by some threat or other. In recent times, several lions in Gir National Park and Sanctuary have died, with conflicting theories circulating on what killed them. The eight lions, including some cubs, could have perished as a result of the Babesia parasite or, as the state government asserts, due to heat stress.

In any event, unnatural lion mortality is a cause for concern because the cats are literally cornered in one part of the country. Their populations are encountered not only in protected areas but also in surrounding human-dominated landscapes, where........

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