The traffic on the Bhavnagar-Somnath Highway in Gujarat stopped briefly today after an Asiatic lion was spotted walking on the road. The ‘king of the jungle’ was seen crossing a bridge and cars, trucks and bikes stopped to let the lion cross the highway. The incident took place in Gujarat’s Amreli district. Earlier a total of six lions and lionesses were spotted in a residential area late at night in the district. Lions are usually spotted in this region in the dead of the night. Several lions have been injured and a few have died due to their unexpected movement. The last surviving population of the As iatic lions is a compact tract of dry deciduous forest and open grassy scrublands in the southwestern part of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat. The lions are now distributed in nine districts of the state covering around 30,000 square km of area, which is termed the Asiatics Lion Landscape. The Gir Forest National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary, also known as Sasan-Gir, is known as the \”last abode\” of Asiotic lions.
