A new girl for Blair Drummond

In April 2012 Blair Drummond Safari Park announced the birth of a female lion cub named "Libby" who was the first cub born at the Park for ten years.

As I wrote in the post explaining her birth and the background of the Pride in "A new generation for Blair Drummond" I explained how impressed I am on their attitude in breeding lions. The majority of Safari Parks tend to have cubs every year to two years, but with no thoughts as to where possible cubs may end up however Blair Drummond went for ten years with no lions cubs and seem to have a very relaxed self sufficient way of keeping their pride going.

In 2010 "Dudley" arrived at the age of four years old from Longleat Safari Park. His father was the famous Kabir, who sadly died at Newquay Zoo where he was retired to in March 2008. "Dudley" took over the pride at Blair Drummond where he had seven lionesses to himself! "Libby's" birth in September 2011 was a first time for mother "Teekay" and brought a new generation to the pride, so two years later it is fantastic to hear the news of a new little girl adding to pride numbers.

 The above photo was taken from the Blair Drummond Safari Park Facebook Page showing "Teekay" and new born "Karis". As shown in her stance and facial expression "Teekay" is showing superb signs straight away as i'm sure she did with "Libby" in being very protective over her new cub and is obviously not entirely keen on keeper interference which is just how a mother should be over her cub. Relaxed signs straight away could eventually lead in rejecting the cub, this is common in first time mums.

As shown below "Karis" really does look absolutely beautiful. Her speckledy pattern on her head is designed to camouflage her from predators in the long grass in their critical helpless stage. Mothers will generally leave the pride to give birth to their cubs in a secluded 'den' by themselves. This could be a hollow in rocks, or a patch of long grass in a wooded area, wherever is best suitable for them. This gives them time to bond with their cubs but also keeps them away from the rest of the pride where interaction with elder cubs and adult lions could prove fatal, especially if marauding male lions come close. Male lions will kill cubs that are not theirs with no hesitation, and a day old cub would be an incredibly easy target. The cubs will then return to the pride at a couple of months old and will then get used to the hustle and bustle of pride life.

The news of another female born is again more good news. The birth of female cubs to any pride is very important. Lionesses make up the pride, in a way they are the pride, male lions will come and go. A male lion or coalition will generally only reign over one to three years, during which time only one or two litters may be born. So throughout the average lifespan of a lioness they may have up to four different suitors. This is very useful for genetic diversity as many cubs born to the same female will have different fathers. So as the females will all stay together from all different generations the males are cast out of the pride to fend for themselves. They are either cast out by their own fathers when they reach sexual maturity, they are then considered a threat. 

However males will join to form coalitions, which may even be with male lions they have previously fought. If they can work together they are open to form coalitions, as the more males they have, the more chances they have to take over a new pride, naturally however this will depend on the individuals. Male lions in zoos are either found new homes or may be kept in the pride and castrated. This is not something I am keen on because male lions that may be castrated can still hold a very dominant position in any pride environment which can make it very hard when mixing in new breeding males in the future. However it is a lot better than the alternative if no homes are found for them.

Above is a beautiful photo of lovely little "Karis" taken by Andrew Milligan and shown in the Metro. Here she is proving to be a big handful for all keepers involved just as she should be! They may seem small at the age, but they can put up a fight and can be incredibly feisty and inflict a fair deal of pain when they want to.

Her birth now brings pride numbers up to 8 including her father "Dudley" mother "Teekay" and older sister "Libby". The pride at Blair Drummond is now stable with a mixture of younger and older lionesses ready for whatever may be thrown at it, but hopefully at the age of seven "Dudley" will still have a few more litters to father with the current breeding females before he is retired as a breeding male. No doubt in the future "Libby" and "Karis" will become future breeding females when their future pride male arrives in many years time. However with "Dudley" only being seven we can probably expect a couple more litters, a few years as he enjoys retirement and then more cubs when he dies and is replaced, well that is what I imagine the next ten year plan to be.

I look forward to showing you all pictures of her in the 2014 season when visitors will first get a chance to see her out with the rest of the pride.

Enjoy

James

Riziki & Karla - 10th September 2013

Hi All,

I do apologise for the huge lack of posting recently! However as all we know in the zoo world the Summer is an extremely busy time and this is very true at Linton! We have been run off our feet enjoying all the extra activities and talks that we put on during the Summer for all the public that I haven't had much chance to have a real camera session with the lions, but you will be pleased to know that I did spend a lot of my evenings spent with them. Thought I would make good use of the weather!

So now that we are out of the busy season I will now be posting photos a lot more regularly now, and it looks like I am starting off this new busy posting period with a rather unusual set of photos taken last week. I don't normally post many photos of Riziki and Karla at all, but it turned out that last week when I did have my camera with me was when they were more active than usual! It had been raining throughout the day but had cleared up a bit so both of them were active outdoors trying to keep warm I imagine, as it has started to get a bit colder now!

Well I hope you enjoy these photos of Riziki and Karla, there will be a lot more to follow.

Riziki really does look stunning and he never fails to give off a formidable presence when he stands on his platform. This is unmistakably Linton Zoo with the brick wall in the background and all the ferns as vegitation. There are probably many people all around the UK who have a similar photo to this of Riziki or that of his predecessor Jaspa who lived here in the 1970's-80's. It is quite nice too, that because Riziki was born at Woburn Safari Park, some of Jaspa's cubs born at Linton were sent there in the 1980's so there is a very strong possibility that Riziki is a descendant of Jaspa. Even more convincing evidence, according to my boss who hand-reared them both is that they are both spitting images of each-other! So there has to be Linton lion in there somewhere we think.

Karla was doing her best trying to keep away but unknowingly posing fantastically in the ferns and nettles at the back of the enclosure. This made for some really good photos as you can see. Her feisty nature beams through in these photos I think, she really does have a big character this girl!

However my camera's attention was very quickly brought back to Riziki who was busy on his platform clearly wanting his photo taken. This is enough of me talking for the moment, please enjoy looking at the rest of the photos!

Riziki and Karla have been at Linton for ten years now and have just celebrated their tenth birthdays at the zoo. Riziki was ten on the 5th July and Karla turned ten more recently on the 29th August. These two are now well into their middle aged years now, and Riziki definately gives off the impression of a wise old man to me. My boss and myself both think that he would suit a monocle. What do we all think?!

It is fantastic to see these two more active now the winter season is approaching and incredibly interesting to see their reactions with the people who they have affection for. Because I spend so much time with Zuri and Safina I never really see these two that much as I would like. However the other night I went to see them with my boss Kim Simmons and they were bounding around just like little cubs for her fuss and attention! It was amazing to see two fully grown lions chasing eachother around and bounding round their enclosure because they were so excited to see her! Truly inspirational!

I hope you have enjoyed all these photos, and that you look forward for more to come along very shortly.

Thanks

James

Lion Evening Success! - Saturday 10th August

On Saturday 10th August as I told you all on my last post, I organised a lion evening at the zoo that I work at, the wonderful Linton Zoo. And there was no better day to hold it then the first ever World Lion Day.

This event was organised to celebrate the tenth birthdays of our lions Riziki and Karla as well as our younger lion Zuri's seventh birthday. Not only a birthday celebration it also gave us the opportunity to raise money for our supported lion charity "Lion Guardians".

The evening started off with a guided walk and talk by myself stopping off first of all at the oldest lion enclosure where Riziki and Karla live, this is how I see it the birthplace of most of the lions in the UK population, it's amazing how just one little enclosure in a little Cambridgeshire zoo can contribute so much to the whole captive population of lions, a very special place indeed. It all started with the first pair Dusty and Tanya, who were housed originally in the old snow leopard enclosure back in the day with indoor viewing and outdoor enclosures this would have been state of the art, but of course a lot has changed in the zoo world in forty years. The second pair of lions Jaspa and Lucy lived in the enclosure where Riziki and Karla are now, it is here where close to a hundred cubs were born from these two, some of which were sent to Woburn Safari Park in the 1980's, this is where Riziki and Karla were born. Jaspa and Lucy's last cub Lily died in 2002, leaving us lion-less for the first time in thirty years, something that we needed to change! So in 2003 Riziki and Karla arrived. Riziki's very strong likeness to Jaspa makes us think that Riziki is descended from the lions we sent to Woburn back then, this would be a lovely thought.

The next stop was at the snow leopard enclosure where we house our two snow leopards Centurio and Lhamo where the visitors learnt about how these secretive and shy cats survive in the wild, and that actually we know very little about them. This stop was significantly shorter than the rest as due to their shy nature I did not want to interrupt their evening with my loud speaker, however all the visitors appreciated this and loved seeing them for the ten minutes or so that we were down there. The visitors also learnt about the history of our previous African Leopard breeding programme that sadly ended in March as our second generation bred Linton leopard Lisa died of old age at the age of 20.

The next stop allowed our visitors to see our two Siberian tigers Katinka and Mirko. This also included a bit of a surprise for all of them, as they were fed just as we got there, this was not planned originally as we did not know how reliable Katinka would be in being able to feed, however it worked perfectly and visitors were able to see her feed up at the fence, something very unique as this is always done after zoo opening hours.

Visitors also learnt the importance of conservation when we are suffering huge illegal trading problems with the rest of our wild cat species. The tiger skin above is an illegal custom seizure now used by myself and the other keepers at Linton Zoo as an education material, allowing the public to appreciate what a tiger feels like as well as being able to see how sad this is. I think people really have a reality check when they see this in my hands, it was very sadly once part of a real tiger who was killed for one reason only, and that reason is profit, it is incredibly sad, but I think it really hits home to members of the public of the huge cruelty that we cause, for no real reason at all.

Interestingly enough because of the huge demand of tiger bone in Chinese medicine, because there are a huge lack of wild tigers in the wild, the last count is 3,200, they are finding other ways to find this source. Because when you strip lions and tigers to the flesh and bone they are exactly the same, they only seperated from the same ancestor incredibly recently, lion and tiger bones are no different at all, even an expert would struggle to tell the difference. So lions are being shot in Africa, and their bones are then taken back to China to be used in Chinese bone medicine. So unfortunately lions are suffering from their big cousins.

The evening then ended with our raffle which we managed to raise £74 from. Something that we were very proud of. Here visitors have a last chance to buy any raffle tickets, as you can see we had a fantastic turn out of about 40 or so visitors.

Below one of our regular visitors and loved friends Sean Robinson helps us choose the winning raffle ticket for our first prize. The winner of this was able to help feed the lions and place their meat into the lion enclosure, whilst they were shut in of course! It turns out however that the winner of this raffle was actually my mum pictured in the Linton Zoo photo below! I do assure you that it was not a fix, because if I had fixed it I would have made sure that she hadn't have won it! Other prizes included a beautiful framed sketch drawing of our lions Zuri and Safina, a huge cuddly leopard, a box of chocolates, and a bottle of Cava! All of these prizes were greatly received by their winners and we are all so grateful by the amount of money that we raised from the raffle all of which goes straight to our sponsored Lion Guardian.

Face painting even took place, and as you can see below, members of staff, the old (sorry Sean!) and the young all took part! All money raised from this went towards Lion Guardians.

Ofcourse the big pull for the event was the unique lion feeding, pictures of which you can see below. Zuri and Safi were great show offs, Zuri as always loves his food, and was seen bounding around the smaller area before he was let out into the main enclosure, you really could grasp how strong he was, absolutely amazing.

Safina on the other hand kept her cool, even as if to say "No, I will not make myself look silly!" She started eating her meat outdoors but quickly resorted back to her platform in the separate unit and ate her dinner there. The public really did enjoy seeing this unique occurrence.

Lion Guardians is a very important charity in my eyes. We started fund raising for the charity in April this year and we are already doing superbly well. World Lion Day did seem like the fantastic opportunity to try and help them out even further, not just be my normal talk in the zoo during the day, but by planning a special evening event too.

"Our mission is to promote sustainable coexistence between people and lion using cultural values, community participation and science."

"The Lion Guardians program was developed in 2006 by the living with lions project and the local communities, and was initiated in collaboration with Maasailand Preservation Trust in January 2007 on Mbirikani Group Ranch in the Amboseli Ecosystem

The Lion Guardians approach involves recruiting young non-literate Maasai warriors to become actively engaged in protecting lions rather than killing them. Enrollment in the Lion Guardians program becomes a life-changing experience for these young Maasai who have had no formal education. Taught to read, write and communicate in Swahili and trained in wildlife management and conflict mitigation techniques, the Lion Guardians monitor lion movements, warn pastoralists when lions are in the area, recover lost livestock, reinforce protective fencing and intervene to stop lion hunting parties. Collectively these efforts lead to a reduction in the loss of livestock, which in turn enhances the livelihoods of the local people and builds tolerance for lions and other carnivores. Most notably, these conflict mitigation efforts are founded on century-old traditional techniques and thus are easily understood and accepted by the community."

The description above taken from the lion guardians website shows the aim of the charity. At Linton Zoo we are currently sponsoring one of these Lion Guardians his name is "Mingati Makarot". Mingati is a past lion killer but he is now fighting to save them as a Lion Guardian. The great news is that after Saturday's Lion Evening we have no raised nearly enough money to sponsor out second Lion Guardian! Please look on the Lion Guardians website here for more information. It is a fantastic project and a very unique one too. Also if you want to know what other conservation projects we raise money for at Linton Zoo please look in this page here.

I just want to say here, a huge thank-you to everyone who has donated any money towards the Lion Guardians project since I started the money raising in the Easter Holidays. It really is greatly appreciated and you really are helping to make a real difference.

Also a huge thankyou to everyone who turned up to the Lion Evening, it was fantastic to have so many people there and it really was a pleasure to talk to you all. I really hoped you enjoyed my hour long talk and the big cat feedings at the end, you really were very lucky because as I have said this is something we generally only do once the zoo has closed.

Thank-you once again.

 And one last thank-you to my wonderful team, consisting of all of the keeping and coffee shop staff at Linton Zoo all pictured below with myself. I really could not have done it all without you.

A big thank-you to Jack, Mikey, Sophie, Nancy, Steve, Aisling, Dawny, Dawn, Jess and of course Zoo Director Kim Simmons.

We may only be small at Linton, but we really are fighting to make a difference in helping the animals we love survive in the wild.

In my eyes, this is true conservation, and we are all  very proud to be a part of it.

Zuri - 18th July 2013

 Now that the Summer has properly arrived it means that the zoo is now getting busier and busier, which is great not only for the zoo, but for myself as a keeper I love seeing the zoo being appreciated and the animals love all the attention too.

Zuri is looking absolutely stunning in this weather and his and Safi's enclosure is looking fantastic. Zuri turned seven on the 3rd July so he is now a middle aged grown up proper lion. So when I remembered my camera I was delighted to see Zuri posing away when I went to see him on one of my daily evening visits last week. All of these photos were taken on the 18th July. Whilst Zuri was in the outdoor enclosure Safina was spending the evening in the house, it is lovely and cool in there with all the tiled walls!

Zuri needs no more introduction really, and I hope you all love these photos of him. He really is a stunner isn't he?!

Enjoy!

Now that the Summer Holidays have approached us it is now the busiest time of the year for us. So at Linton Zoo we are providing some extra activities.

The lion talk given by myself (always check with me on here or ring the zoo up if you want to hear it especially) will be on most days over the Summer.

We also have two special late night opening events. The first event on the 27th July will involve our reptiles, comprising of VIP Tortoise Tours and snake feeding. It will also involve a special animal encounters session were everyone will be able to meet some of our reptiles who are not always on show to the public, they are always very popular especially with the kids.

The Lion Evening on the 10th August (World Lion Day!) Will not only celebrate the special day but also celebrate Riziki and Karla's tenth birthday. The evening will comprise of special talks given by myself as well as lion feeding and other events. I'm sure that this will be a very popular as our lion feeding are always when the zoo is closed, it will be interesting for everyone to see.

Both events will just comprise of normal admission fee with no extra charge for the feeds and the talks, so why not make your money worthwhile and get at 10 when the zoo opens and leave at 7:30 when we close!!

It will be great to see everyone there, and here is just one last photo of Zuri for you all to see.

Thanks everyone

James