'Coalition government' at work in Gir

Politicians insist running a coalition government can be a tough task. But in Gir, the lion kings have been running their version of 'coalition government' for a long time. Gir — the last adobe of Asiatic lions — thrives on numerous prides thriving on tieups.
In the Kamleshwar Dam site area, two lions have established their supremacy over a huge pride and an even bigger territory."Usually one lion rules the group and the other just plays a supporting role, but here the two lions rule a group of 28 members including females, sub-adults and adults," said the officer.
Sandeep Kumar, deputy conservator of forest head quarter says, "This coalition is only to safeguard their territory against outside at-tack." The bonding between these two lions is so strong that they mate with the same lioness without any element of jealousy.
"When one lion is mating, the other is constantly on the move, guarding the territory and after four or five days, the second lion takes over and the first guards the territory. We are studying the unique behaviour," Kumar said.
Forest officials say that apart from this group, there are several prides in Gir sanctuary that have two rulers.
Additional principal conservator of forest, H S Singh, says in Africa too one can find in-stances where two lions have ruled a pride. There have been in-stances where there are three to five males in the group. But in all these cases, one of the lions is always supreme.
This bonhomie among lions in sharing their pride with a joint-ruler does not seem to affect the lionesses who remain wary of each other and usually prefer to hunt alone.