The lions having been named Samson, Leo and Lenny were built a brand new enclosure, looking rather much on the same kind of lines of that of Zuri and Safi's at Linton, a small holding area and a large landscaped enclosure.
However to my surprise Samson one of the trio was moved yesterday to Newquay Zoo, the reason is now entirely clear. As with all groups of lions they have their ups and downs and even siblings can fall out, something that has obviously occurred here. It appears that Leo was the most dominant of the three, and started to pick on Samson, perhaps to assert his authority, as he has no females to do this too. Lenny joined in and paired up with Leo, leaving Samson in a rather dangerous situation. Combe Martin was not the only zoo to hold a trio of sibling males, Wildlife Heritage Foundation holds three of Karla's brothers together. From what I have heard these three also have their equal share of arguments.
But why can they not live peacefully? Male lions generally only live together on their own when having been driven out of their home pride and then whilst looking for a pride to takeover. Once they are sexually mature like all the lions mentioned are, and there are no chance of females ever keeping them company, the males may all get a bit frustrated, thus leading to arguments and driving out other males regardless of how restricted their situation is.
Even though Samson was driven out by his two brothers, it looks like he has now got the better side of the deal and now has a female to live with!
However Connies previous record of having three male companions all of which have died, does not bode well, but as most lion pairs, i'm sure they will learn to live with each other, and i'm sure that Connie will put Samson back in his place.
However Connie is fifteen years old and Samson is only four, soon to turn five, what will the future hold when Connie dies? I have heard that Newquay intend on not keeping lions anymore after this, and utilizing the enclosure space a lot more with something smaller. However as stated in some of these articles this pair are the only lions in Cornwall and as always, a big crowd puller, so only time will tell I guess. One of the things that we do know is that Samson has been vesectomised so no cubs will be occur if he mates with Connie, and this also means that any idea of cubs once Connie has passed on is out of the question too.
I will keep updating this page with any links to photos and news reports I find, but thought it would be interesting for people to hear a background to this very recent news story. The story like the move of his predecessors Kabir and Charlie did cause quite a stir from the following Media channels;
And ofcourse the Newquay Zoo website.
Below is a photo that I found on the this is Devon website, of Samson at Newquay Zoo and does not belong to me.
Samson is a truly superb looking lion, and to me looks a lot like his mother Karla, his nose is black, possibly from his confrontations with his brothers. But all in all he looks well settled and a superb specimen, I hope to visit him one day!
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