Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 136, April 2016, pp. 1-35. | Page 7

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very stocky, light tawny in colour, and I may say that no one of us three had the
slightest doubt of what we had seen until, on our arrival at Quetta. Many officers
expressed doubts as to its identity, or the possibility of there being a lion in the
district" (Guggisberg, 1961; Khalaf-von Jaffa, 2006).
The lion's range may have extended as far east as Bihar and Orissa states in
India: a lion was reportedly killed in the district of Palamau (Bihar) in 1814; and
the last lion recorded from the southern end of its Indian range was killed at
Rhyl in Damoh district, near the Narmada River, in the cold season of 1847-1848
(Kinnear 1920; Khalaf-von Jaffa, 2006).
Fifty lions were killed in the district of Delhi, India between 1856 - 1858. Twentyfive years later Blanford (1891) wrote that "in India the lion is verging on
extinction" (Guggisberg 1961; Khalaf-von Jaffa, 2006).

The taxidermied Lion (Panthera leo) at the Museum of Natural History in Al-Baq'a, AlQuds (Jerusalem), Occupied Palestine … My daughter Nora Norman Ali Khalaf is sitting
on the right … Photo: Prof. Dr. Sc. Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher Khalaf-von Jaffa ...
27.07.2014. https://www.flickr.com/photos/50022881@N00/15415491300/
Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin – Number 136 – April 2016