To read about the Woburn Pride please look on this page, it will give you a lot of background information on the group held at Woburn and also how the British Safari Park lions were founded.
This page will also host information about lions born at other collections such as Linton but are now at other zoos, I feel that this is the right place for them, as they do too descend from the same Safari Park, and are just a couple of generations down the line.
LINTON ZOO
To learn about the lions at Linton Zoo please look on this page which will give you a lot of information on the lions housed there, they are descended from Woburn Lions but they have such an emphasis on this blog it made more sense to give them a page of their own! To read about lions born at Linton and sent to Uganda please look on this page here.
WILDLIFE HERITAGE FOUNDATION
The Wildlife Heritage Foundation in Kent, formally owned by Paradise Wildlife Park in Broxbourne is home to a trio of male African Lions. These lions were born at Woburn Safari Park on the 29th August 2004. If that date means anything to you and you have read this blog before you will probably know that, that is Karlas birthday too, meaning that they are indeed her brothers! All rejected by their first time mum Amber, the three boys were sent to Paradise Wildlife Park where they were hand-reared and at about 18 months old were sent to the Wildlife Heritage Foundation where they reside now. The three boys are called Kafari, Tiny and Manzi. And here they are pictured below. The photo was actually a photo taken of a photo in my visit in 2008 and does not belong to me, but it does show all three of them.
Appearance wise these three seem to take after their slightly older cousin Riziki, and their manes are reasonably extensive but 'tidy' and not too long, giving them a rather impressive and lean look. They also have the curtains of hair along the back of their belly and on their elbows. As far as news goes on the blog, the isn't much that can be reported on with these three, as far as I know they get on perfectly well, but as with any group of all males, there will be arguments and I am pretty sure that they get seperated and feeding times, like most cats, it is just easier from a husbandry point of view, and saves squabbling, as with guys as strong as these, any squabbling could be quite fierce!
The picture above was taken by me on my visit to see them in 2008. They would have been 4 years old in the photo, so fully grown size wise but their manes still had a little bit of developing to do. Unfortunately for lion fans the centre where they live is not open to the public, but they do do open days.
The trio at WHF act as superb ambassadors for their kind, not needed to breed, these guys can just live their lives together. Their line is already fairly represented with their siblings and cousins at Africa Alive and Linton having bred a fair bit, they would not be needed to be sent to females to breed.
COLCHESTER ZOO
Colchester has always been known for it's collection of big and small cats and has held lions for a very long time. In 1992 it build a brand new state of the art glass fronted enclosure called 'Serengeti Plains' and a trio of 'spare' lions from Woburn Safari Park were brought in to be housed in it. The lions were all siblings and were born on the 22nd April 1989. It is possible that they are related directly to Legs Diamond at Woburn (who is the grandfather of Riziki and Karla at Linton, making these three direct ancestors of the Linton Lions). The three are pictured below on a visit in 2001, and in order of the photo they are Subu, Massing and Ashanti.
However in 2004 a brand new enclosure for lions was built, an enclosure very similiar in design to their previous enclosure and only a few hundred yards away was christened 'Lion Rock' and is still in residence today. It used the same design of glass windows for inside and outside as well as a mock rock backdrop. The only lions to move into this enclosure were Subu and Ashanti, meaning that Massing must have died between 2001 and 2004, however I have been unable to find anything on her death. However shortly after this Ashanti died, leaving Subu with no company. A new lioness from Blair Drummond Safari Park called 'Leoni' was brought in for company, and she was already middle aged making her the perfect mate for him. However Leoni died in 2009, leaving Subu alone have survived all his female companions! In 2010 Subu died after over 20 years, which is an incredibly good life for a male lion. His death was used as an opportunity by animal rights groups to protest against Colchester Zoo to replace Subu with more lions. The link also has a very interesting video and an interview with Colchester Director Anthony Tropeanno.
However very shortly afterwards it was organised for Colchester Zoo to house a trio of 'spare lions' from Woburn Safari Park, deja vu much?! These lions once again were a trio of one male and two female, and were a non breeding group that had been slowly forced out of their home pride at Woburn by other pride members and it made perfect sense for them to come to Colchester. The trio of lions consists of siblings Naja and Malika born on the 26th March 2004, and Bailey born on the 28th June 2007. Naja and Malika are youngers sisters to Karla and Bailey is a younger brother to Riziki.
Below is a photo taken on my visit in 2010 of the lions on 'Lion Rock'. As you can see Bailey at only three years old still had a lot of developing to do, and I was very happy to go and visit him in August 2012.
Below are photos of Malika and Bailey in 2012, There are many more photos on this blog of that visit, of the lions in the morning, the lions being fed, and the lions in the evening before I left, I didn't waste an opportunity!
As you can see Bailey really does take after his older brother Riziki, his mane is really dark around the edges and it is really short and really precise. The photos on the posts really do make you understand how much of a superb looking male lion he is. He is a right cracker of a specimen!
NOAHS ARK ZOO + LONGLEAT SAFARI PARK
A collection not really known to have lions is Noahs Ark Zoo Farm in Somerset. The fast growing collection first obtained lions in 2010. In 2010 a move of three young lions born at Linton Zoo, Cambridgeshire occured. These three cubs pictured below in their original enclosure. The cubs Zulu, Masai and Louisa were born to Zuri and Safi at Linton Zoo. They are in this section because their mother Safina descends from the Woburn Pride and her parents were born there. To learn more about the Linton Lions click here.
The trio continued to live and mature at Noahs Ark but in 2011 the female Louisa left her two brothers to become a future breeding female at Longleat Safari Park in a brand new pride. Learn more about that in this post.
The zoo has a webcam to track Zulu and Masai's progress. With such an interesting mix of genes from their parents, it will be incredibly interesting to see what these two look like when they are fully mature in a couple of years time.
Above is a photo taken from This is Bristol, showing the two boys sharing a festive treat! It will be very interesting to see how these guys look, whether or not they take after their father Zuri, or their grandfather Riziki. But only time will tell.
COMBE MARTIN WILDLIFE PARK + NEWQUAY ZOO
Come Martin like Noahs Ark Zoo, is a collection that has never held lions before. Their first arrival of lions occured in 2008 when a trio of males arrived from Linton Zoo. The three males were born to Riziki and Karla on the 9th June 2007. The three males were publicly christened Samson, Leo and Lennie.
In preparation for the three boys a huge two acre enclosure has been built for them. Sadly however as is with keeping all male species groups, fights can break out for dominance and it seemed that Samson was no one longer welcome in the company of his two brothers Leo and Lennie pictured below. The picture was taken by Shane Heron, showing the two boys looking absolutely superb!
I have looked in detail at the two boys compared to other males in this post. This post here looks in more detail at Samsons arrival at Newquay Zoo, both with further links to look at. A video of Samson found on youtube is here. Below this is a photo of Samson taken from the This is Devon website and does not belong to me.
So here we go, three boys who left Linton Zoo at just under a year old to Combe Martin Wildlife Park in 2008 are now fully grown superb looking specimens. They are included in this section because their parents were born at Woburn Safari Park.
AFRICA ALIVE
When Africa Alive (previously known as Suffolk Wildlife Park) decided to bring in a brand new pair of lions to intergrate with their elderly female Rula, they also decided to completely renovate the existing lion enclosure, based in a large dell.
African Lion Zero was brought in from Woburn Safari Park is a direct younger brother to Riziki and he was born in 2004. He was sent to Africa Alive at a very young age in 2005 where he was paired up with a female Little Mo from West Midlands Safari Park. The pair between them have had a couple of litters, the males have been castrated to stay with the group.
The picture above is from Norfolk places.com and shows Zero and one of the pride lionesses. The picture below shows Zero with two cubs. As can be seen he has a rather light blonde coloured mane, but with extensive belly hair. This is a trait of the Woburn line. Very similiar to Riziki and build, Zero is certainly a very big and impressive male lion.
Africa Alive have a similiar set up to Whipsnade Zoo, very good enclosure but with a rather stagnant group of lions, castrated males mean this group is 'stuck' so it would be impossible to intergrate another breeding male in when Zero dies. But it keeps numbers up and a happy family group for the time being.
Fantastic looking male specimens, very 'big' lionesses, like most Safari parks. possibly because no females are hand-reared, only have the fittest specimens in pride environments?
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