For the first time since John Aspinall founded Howletts, Lions have now come into the collection.
Previously only held at Port Lympne, the Barbary group that Aspinall first imported from Rabat Zoo and have been bred ever since, so they must be on their third generation at least by now.
Here is an article showing the news of the move.
The pair that have been moved are Barbary Lions Layla and Jabir. Jabir was born 17th July 2003 and is the son Kabir, who moved to Longleat to become their new breeding male in 2003/4. His mother is Jade who stayed at the park until she died. Layla was also fathered by Kabir and was born the 11th August 2003, her mother was Aiesha.
The pair are obviously not a breeding pair due to their close relationship. Because of this Jabir has had the snip, this is easily apparant due to his lack of mane! So the pair are being used as 'ambassadors for their species' and are not part of a breeding programme but more as an educational tool.
It does not say where they were housed however due to the fact that the Indian Tigers were moved from their enclosure by the Cafe to further down by the Siberian and Sumatran pairs. It is this enclosure where I think they will be housed, and if they are due to it's history as a bear/tiger enclosure could the Lynx enclosure be utilized in the future?
I have now found out that the Lions are now housed in one of the old tiger enclosures by the entrance, this makes a good display and is not out of the way for any unsuspecting visitor. However it still leads to the question of what is being held in the old tiger enclosure by the lynx?
Below are pictures of Layla in her former enclosure at Port Lympne. The picture at the very bottom is two old lionesses, possibly both of the mothers of the pair. Note the very wild Aspinall style enclosure!
There is still much controversy as to whether these lions are pure Barbary or not, or whether they are just lions that were bred to have the characteristics of a Barbary lion; Extensive mane covering the male right up to the belly, Being a lot larger than that of other lions, and a lot bolder faces.
Still whether or not these lions to contain Barbary blood, does not mean that the Barbary lion is a different subspecies, as far as many are concerned all lions of Africa are just one whole subspecies with a few differences to each area, something that I happen to agree with.
But having discussed all of this, this is a move that I have to say has surprised me, but it has filled a space at Howletts and yet another new species to the cat collection, definitely making it the finest collection in this country.
