Yes, there are lions in Asia. In India, in fact. People seemed shocked by this, but anyone who has studied India's history recognizes the Lion emblem and the famous Ashoka pillars from 250 BCE with lions standing tall on them. They are also the same lions found in Western Europe during the time of empires and held a range to China. The reason you may not hear about them now is because they are now extremely rare. In fact, in 1907, somewhere between 13 and 100 lions remained (the range is large because people reported lower numbers to discourage hunting). Point is, it is low.
They used to be all over India, but as populations grew, their grasslands turned to farmlands and they were slowly pushed to Sasun Gir, a small area in the state of Gujarat. The last count done in 2006 came up with 359 lions; an improvement, but still incredibly low. They run the risk of inbreeding, so if one catches an illness, that could wipe out almost the entire population as they will all be suseptible without genetic variation (Cheetah's currently face the same problem). Numbers were also low because the British would hunt them when they colonized India.
They are in fact the same species as African Lions, but are a different subspecies. In this case, that was classified because while they can technically mate and produce viable offspring, they do not regularly do so because of geographic boundaries, and are different enough to be considered its own category. The differences: They are smaller, less aggressive, with mains generally too small to cover its ears. This is supposedly because the prey they seek is smaller and weaker than the prey its African counterpart might attack. For this, they also form prides only for hunting and mating and otherwise live independently (although this, too, might be a population issue).
In any case, people surrounding the protected park now love the lions, and they are not seen as a threat. Occasionally they will venture into neighboring villages, but since they are not in a busy tourist area of India, there is little fear or bother to their lifestyle, which is one thing that the lion has in its favor. Occasionally you hear about people poisoning lions if they eat their livestock, which can devestate the population -- but it is now socially unacceptable so it is less popular -- moving it in the direction of being illegal.
They used to be all over India, but as populations grew, their grasslands turned to farmlands and they were slowly pushed to Sasun Gir, a small area in the state of Gujarat. The last count done in 2006 came up with 359 lions; an improvement, but still incredibly low. They run the risk of inbreeding, so if one catches an illness, that could wipe out almost the entire population as they will all be suseptible without genetic variation (Cheetah's currently face the same problem). Numbers were also low because the British would hunt them when they colonized India.
They are in fact the same species as African Lions, but are a different subspecies. In this case, that was classified because while they can technically mate and produce viable offspring, they do not regularly do so because of geographic boundaries, and are different enough to be considered its own category. The differences: They are smaller, less aggressive, with mains generally too small to cover its ears. This is supposedly because the prey they seek is smaller and weaker than the prey its African counterpart might attack. For this, they also form prides only for hunting and mating and otherwise live independently (although this, too, might be a population issue).
In any case, people surrounding the protected park now love the lions, and they are not seen as a threat. Occasionally they will venture into neighboring villages, but since they are not in a busy tourist area of India, there is little fear or bother to their lifestyle, which is one thing that the lion has in its favor. Occasionally you hear about people poisoning lions if they eat their livestock, which can devestate the population -- but it is now socially unacceptable so it is less popular -- moving it in the direction of being illegal.
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