Having decided this afternoon to make a surprise visit to Linton, I packed my car up and made my way down, I headed straight up to Zuri and Safi. To my delight the zoo was pretty much empty, unfortunately the reason for this was the absolutely appaling weather, I admit I did get soaked, but it was worth it!
Zuri doesn't seem to have the biggest amount of common sense as far as lions go, as when I got there as usual he was on top of his hill at the top, completely sodden! However his 'lack of common sense' will be explained lower down this post, sitting on his hill is very important lion behavior As the photos show below, because Zuri's mane is so long, he really did look ridiculous as it tends to straighten it all down, not the big thick mane it should be!
Zuri, like any male lion would, likes to make the most of his best vantage point. From here in the wild he would use it to survey his territory, to see what is going on, and to look for any unwanted male lions lurking around to bid a takeover. He also no weather interrupting patrols the enclosure daily, this is wild behaviour, he is walking around his territory (in this case the enclosure) looking out for new sights and new smells. It is simply wild behaviour just in a confined space. Safi is always the hardest to coax out of her bedroom, but with a couple of calls she came out to say hello. I am so incredibly lucky to be able to have this relationship with them, and whenever I call both, they look towards me, so they clearly recognise my voice. Zuri also gives 'moan calls' this are just short greets as he comes up to say hello, more recognisable as a moan or a groan noise. Something that I have only hear him do, when he sees the keeper who hand-reared him, so it must be a good sign!
As the weather got progressively worse and I headed down to see her parents, by the time I got back to see her Safi had headed back into her warm cosy bedroom. As I sat by the window next to her, she came up to me, and persisted in jumping up on the window with her paws. She also rubbed her face along the window ledge, not only is she greeting me, but she is also spreading her scent around her house. Most things that lions do, can have more than one purpose. She did all of this, inbetween her occasional naps where I waited next to window with her, what fantastic company I have! All of the photos of this are posted below.
As you can see she is a huge tart and will most of the time sleep on her back, with no dignity whatsoever! However I can report that all four of the lions at Linton do this, so it must be the sign of a truly very very contented lion with nothing to worry about! I can probably safely say that whatever I can say about these photos of Safi so close, will never be matched to actually seeing them yourselves, so here you go. Please try to ignore any reflections and so on, taking photos through glass is hard enough, especially when it is rather dark, and the window is very scuffed, due the amount of lion paw and claw marks on it!
Further into the afternoon as the rain stopped, Safi joined Zuri outside for a bit. Here you could see how much thicker her coat has become as it starts to get into the Winter season. And also see how dark Zuri is, again same as Riziki the wet weather didn't help this, but he has always had a much darker skin tone to Safi.
In regards to size and height, Zuri is much shorter than Linton's other male lion Riziki, and I would say about a foot or so shorter at the shoulder. However he is a lot bulkier. As far as male lions go, they are in appearance complete opposites, and it is a shame that we will never see them next to one another to truly compare them, this would not only be incredibly dangerous, but not very practical as male lions do fight to the death! I have to say if it is personal preference as much as I love Zuri, I would have to say I prefer the appearance of Riziki. He is a lot more impressive in my opinion, tall, lean, short but very extensive mane. Whereas Zuri just looks a bit daft!
Safi continued to play on the window, but this time started licking the glass where my head was, affectionate behaviour? Who knows, but interesting that is for sure. She really is an incredibly special lioness, with a fantastic personality. You can still appreciate her size, Safi is as far as lionesses go, rather small and she was still atleast a foot or two taller than me when stood up on her hind legs, and she wasn't even stood up straight. Once again giving an impression on how big these cats are, it is very hard to believe how much bigger tigers are compared to them.
The two photos above show Zuri in his special hiding place! Obviously determined not to get any wetter than possible, he was hiding in the vegetation on the small mound towards the front of the enclosure. There has long been a lion shaped hole in the vegetation in this mound but I have only ever seen him go in and scent mark before, never actually sit in it. So not only is it a place to mark his scent for all to see, it is a shelter, who says blokes cannot multi-purpose?! He did actually look quite at home in there, definitely doing anything to stay outside!
Below are three of the photos I took of me and Safi at the viewing window today, I would have been more than happy to have Zuri in them, but as I have already discussed he was outside, so no favoritism was involved! Although I must admit I do have a huge soft spot for Safina. As can probably be seen below!
Well thanks everyone for looking at this post and all of the pictures that I have put on it, hopefully I will be going back to see these two in the next 10 days or so before I have my operation which will then mean no visits for quite a number of weeks, sad I know!
I hope you have enjoyed these last two posts, and as I have said hopefully more photos will come up within the next few days or so as I visit them again.
Cheers
James
