The Asiatic lion is a subspecies of lion. Their area of original distribution extended of Greece in the North of the Maghreb and covered the Middle East to India.
He goes out in Greece from Ier century BC, in Palestine in the XIIIth century, in Pakistan in 1842 and survives until XXth century (on approximately 1914) in Iraq and in Iran where he is perceived in 1942. In Persia he disapear in 1941.
The last specimens in the wild state are exclusively in the forest of Gir in the State of Gujarat in Oriental India.
This natural reserve is protected since the 1900s while it was under the jurisdiction of Nawab of the princely State of Junagadh. This initiative contributed to the survival of the subspecies of the Asiatic lion, whose population had fallen in only 15 specimens, because of the sports hunting. Today we count approximately 350 individuals.
There are few morphological differences between the lion of Asia and his African counterpart. His mane is sometimes less bushy and the ears are rather released than buried in hair.