UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — The road ahead for the Asiatic lion

Q1. In which year was the Asiatic lion moved by the IUCN from the 'Critically Endangered' category to the 'Endangered' category on the Red List?

  • A. 1972, the year India enacted its principal wildlife protection statute
  • B. 2008, following sustained growth of the Gujarat population
  • C. 1975, the year the core Gir area was constituted a national park
  • D. 2020, following the announcement of a dedicated flagship project

Q2. The IUCN Red List assessment of the Asiatic lion places the number of mature individuals in the wild at approximately how many?

  • A. About 175
  • B. About 350
  • C. About 674
  • D. About 891

Q3. Approximately what area was constituted as Gir National Park in 1975?

  • A. 259 sq km
  • B. 470 sq km
  • C. 1,412 sq km
  • D. 1,882 sq km

Q4. Which one of the following was the earliest formal protective measure applied to the Gir tract?

  • A. Creation of the Gir Forests Reserve to protect the surviving lion group
  • B. Notification of the tract as a wildlife sanctuary under state authority
  • C. Constitution of the core area as a national park with a demarcated boundary
  • D. Inclusion of the lion in the central government's species recovery programme

Q5. In the 16th Lion Population Estimation, the term 'direct beat verification' refers to which one of the following?

  • A. Physical verification of lions by an enumerator within an assigned demarcated sub-region, with individual identification recorded
  • B. Cross-checking of pugmark plaster casts collected along forest roads against a reference register maintained at each range office
  • C. Statistical extrapolation of total numbers from the density of kills and scat recovered in sample transects across the landscape
  • D. Correlation of nocturnal roar-count surveys with livestock depredation compensation claims filed in the surrounding revenue villages

Q6. Project Lion is funded by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Which one of the following actually executes it on the ground in the Gir landscape?

  • A. The Gujarat Forest Department, working with the state's Forest and Environment Department
  • B. The National Tiger Conservation Authority, which oversees big cat reserves in the country
  • C. The Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, the country's principal wildlife training body
  • D. The Central Zoo Authority, the statutory body regulating captive animal facilities in India

Q7. 'Lion @ 47: Vision for Amrutkal' is best described as which one of the following?

  • A. The project document setting out Project Lion's conservation objectives
  • B. The standard operating protocol governing inter-state translocation of lions
  • C. The technical field manual prescribing the population estimation methodology
  • D. The multilateral charter establishing the International Big Cat Alliance

Q8. With reference to the distribution of Asiatic lions as recorded in the May 2025 estimation, which one of the following statements is correct?

  • A. Amreli district recorded the largest district-wise lion population in the estimation
  • B. Junagadh district alone accounts for the entire lion population inside protected areas
  • C. Gir Somnath is the only district in which lions occur outside notified forest areas
  • D. Bhavnagar district accounts for more than half of all lions recorded in Saurashtra

Q9. The direction to translocate some Asiatic lions from Gujarat to the Kuno-Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh emanated from which one of the following?

  • A. A 2013 judgement of the Supreme Court of India
  • B. A 2013 order of the National Green Tribunal, Principal Bench
  • C. A 2020 direction of the Supreme Court of India accompanying Project Lion
  • D. A 2013 ruling of the High Court of Gujarat at Ahmedabad

Q10. Consider the following statements regarding the Maldharis and lion coexistence in the Gir landscape: 1. They are pastoral communities settled within the Gir Protected Areas. 2. Project Lion proposes incentivised voluntary relocation of their settlements from within the Gir Conservation Areas. 3. They were compulsorily and completely evicted from the Gir tract before it was notified as a sanctuary. 4. Their traditional reverence for lions is cited as one factor sustaining lion-Maldhari coexistence. Which of the statements given above is/are NOT correct?

  1. They are pastoral communities settled within the Gir Protected Areas.
  2. Project Lion proposes incentivised voluntary relocation of their settlements from within the Gir Conservation Areas.
  3. They were compulsorily and completely evicted from the Gir tract before it was notified as a sanctuary.
  4. Their traditional reverence for lions is cited as one factor sustaining lion-Maldhari coexistence.
  • A. 1 and 3
  • B. 2 and 4
  • C. 3 only
  • D. 1, 3 and 4

Q11. The earliest recorded order imposing strict protection on the lions of the Gir was issued by which one of the following?

  • A. The Nawab of Junagadh in 1879
  • B. The Government of Bombay Presidency in 1913
  • C. The Government of Gujarat in 1965
  • D. The Government of India in 1972