Zuri & Safi - 29th August 2012

So here we go, the usual update on the usual pair of lions, Zuri and Safi! Having been at work and being able to see them on a very regular basis, it was easy to realise last week that Safina had come into season, that lasted around about 5-6 days, so quite a while as far as things go!

So during this time Zuri would not leave Safi alone, every single inch that she moved he was there next to her, so I was you would imagine there was quite an atmosphere around their lion enclosure this week, which some visitors found rather hilarious! They must have mated around a couple of hundred times throughout this time period, so who knows what they outcome maybe, possibly cubs but who knows.

As it was incredibly hard during last week to take any decent photos of the two, as whenever Safi came up to say hello, Zuri would not let her go near visitors seeing them as competition, and would try to block our view of her and try to have his way I didn't bother to take my camera into work.

But a couple of days ago, it became clear that Safi had clicked out of season and they are their normal friendly selves who during yesterday lunchtime when I called them over came down to say hello.

As you can see Safi has still remained her normal tarty show-offy self and is well and truly back to normal, head rubbing and purring the fence when coming to see me! This always reminds me how lucky I am, especially now I wear a zoo uniform, the public are always more than happy to hear about the lions, so I think it always special for them to appreciate what these guys are like, and all of them go away it most cases being the closest they will ever get to a lion.

Zuri still protective over Safi, but not as bad as he has been over the past week, always kept his eye on her. All the visitors seem to find him absolutely fantastic, and I don't blame them, what a stunning individual (if not a little short on the front legs but we'll try not to let that bother us!) he has turned into. He is now at the prime of his life, so he will not get any bigger, if not maybe a little porkier as he gets older. Something that I think has just about happened to Safina, approaching seven in November, she is getting a little bit on the chunky side, and she is definately not pregnat (otherwise the last week of being in season would not have happened) So to try and tell whether she is pregnant or not will be near enough impossible til a lot closer to the time she gives birth.

So from now on it is just a waiting game really, and now that they are back to normal I shall continue posting photos such as these on the blog as often as I can.