Louisa

Louisa was born at Linton Zoo to Zuri and Safina on the 16th May 2010. Below are the last photos that I took of her when she was about eight months old, before she and her two brothers Masai and Zulu were sent to Noahs Ark Zoo Farm.

Below this a photo taken from the link below, showing Louisa at Noahs Ark Zoo Farm.

However a year after their move, Louisa was once moved again to Longleat Safari Park to start a brand new lion pride. Joining two males Henry and Hugo from Knowsley Safari Park and a pair of elder lionesses she is to become a founder female for a new pride at the Park. This is not the first time in it's forty year history that Linton lions have gone to Longleat Safari Park to join the prides that the Safari Park is so famous for.

In a recent press release by Longleat on their facebook, showing the lions in bluebells it was when I realised that one of the lionesses pictures could be Louisa, as these pictures are definately in the right reserve housing the pride that she is in. Pictures are also on this website, and the pictures below are from this website and do not belong to me.

Here is a photo of Louisa's new suitors Henry and Hugo who arrived from Knowsley Safari Park last year. Both fantastic looking individuals with extensive long manes, the father of these two Kenya, was he himself born at Longleat in the pride next door, so like most lions in the UK these two descend from the lions of Longleat.

This Lioness eating the sign is obviously a young lioness, her spots have not yet fully faded and she still has a bit of a fluffy coat, this is why I think it is Louisa. Sadly I have not been able to find close up photos to let me look at the spots on her cheeks and match them up to the photos of her as a cub, which would make much more reliable evidence. If the lioness in the photo is Louisa she is in absolutely fantastic shape, and in obviously good health.

Here is a photo of the lionesses of Henry and Hugo's pride. It turns out that Louisa is the female on the far right. She has got a very bold face, and it is long like Zuri's but has a fixed stance a lot like Safina's. Superb to see her fully grown.

So here we go, lion prides are always ever changing, and here is the beginning of a new one, and Linton lions are at the core, I hope Longleat the very best of success with their lion prides, and they always do a superb job in managing them, lets hope cubs arrive soon!