Turkana - A Tribute.

TURKANA 1st JULY 1996 - 9th MARCH 2013

I found out the very sad news of Turkana's passing on the evening of the 9th March the day it happened. I am willing to admit that I did go very red-eyed. Turkana was the first lion that I ever saw, he was the lion who set up with the inspiration that I needed to continue my interest, in a way you all have Turkana to thank for the blog that you some of you may read every day.

Turkana lived at the Park with his twin sister Mana who sadly passed on last year. Her tribute can be seen on this post. Turkana and Mana were born to Jade and Blanco at Paradise Wildlife Park on the 1st July 1996. I recently found out that they did have another litter mate, who ended up back in Arabia. However it is impossible due to that incredibly leap in location, to know whether she is still alive or not. Turkana was born incredibly ill, he suffered five hernia operations and his stomach lining was considered so thin it was predicted that he would not reach past cubhood. However after his final hernia operation Turkana's life literally started again and he just kept getting better and better. Strangely enough this is something that I too was incredibly ill when I was born and has three hernias when I was very little, apart from I had three operations, poor old Turkana had two more. One thing we had in common!

The first time that I saw a lion was at Paradise Wildlife Park on a very warm day in May in 2001. I had been so excited, I had been reading and watching lions on the television for so long, collecting photos, you name it, but I had never seen one. Sadly all of my visits to Whipsnade Zoo happened straight after the death of their elderly lions in the old Whipsnade Dell Enclosures. So this was it, my first lion. My parents had deliberately sought out Paradise because they had lions, I was so excited. I came round the corner and there they were, and I was absolutely stunned. Turkana and Mana were just coming up for their fifth birthday, fully grown and fully mature, they looked superb. And as you can see below, they really did. Turkana's mane was rich in all the colours that a proper lion has, gold, blonde, brown and black around the edge, he really was such a looker. And in superb condition, quite ironic considering he had such a sick cubhood as explained above.

Turkana and Mana made a first impression that has lasted right up until this day. Turkana and Mana were always very special, and will always be remembered. I made it a priority to go and see them both atleast yearly to see how they were doing. Unlike the four lions at Linton seeing them growing up from cubs to adults, with Turkana and Mana I saw them go from their finest at five years old and in their prime, and sadly to their death recently. Below shows Turkana standing, as you can see his shape is absolutely perfect. And his mane was spread evenly around his head and shoulders, not over done, simply how it should be.

The next photo on here shows Turkana in 2008 aged twelve. Here he is middle aged, not quite as youthful as he once was, but his colour and figure still remains. His mane is still as rich and as thick. Looking at these pictures Turkana has a very long face, rather different to some of the rounder looking faces that are characterful of a huge majority of lions at the moment, Riziki as a big example. Turkana's line has now come to an end, with no cubs born to him or his siblings (as far as I know) it looks like no lions will quite look like Turkana ever again. This may be a shame, but nevertheless makes him somewhat unique.

Turkana and Mana, like all lions were sociable animals and like all lions had their social times and their own times, but these two did get on really well as you can see in the photo above. Turkana and Mana were doted on by Nick Loudon. Nick worked at Paradise since before they were born, and was instructed to hand rear Turkana. Nick took on the very sick "Baby T" as I he was known and nursed him through his five hernia operations. The closeness between Nick and Turkana is definately something incredibly special. Nick installed a heater in the lion house for Turkana and as a rule gave him more bedding after Mana died, as he no longer had anyone to snuggle up to.

The next two photos were taken in February 2011. It had been three years since I had last seen Turkana and Mana I was desperate to go and see them again. Turkana and Mana were approaching fifteen that summer and it was this visit when to me they first started to look their age. Turkana had gone a lot paler. His mane had lost the richness of colour that it used to have. Also as you can see above his nose, he suffered from a skin complaint, this is something that Nick told me his father had suffered from as well, so it was probably something genetic. He was definately an older looking lion to the previous photos that you have seen of him. 

However I was assured by Nick that apart from the obvious skin complaint both lions were doing perfectly fine, in superb shape and health, and indeed they were.

It turns out that Mana's death on the 16th June 2012 was the result of some sort of spinal problem, what started as a limp, turned into the complete loss of her back legs, something that would have been impossible for her to deal with. Mana died next to Nick, and she will never be forgotten. Mana was fifteen, two weeks short of her sixteenth birthday, a reasonable age for a lioness, but many have outlived that age. Below is one of my last photos of her taken on my visit in February 2011.

Having not seen the lions for nearly two years, and with death of Mana. I decided to go and visit last year in early December. It was fantastic to see him again, he seemed in perfect health, he was in good shape, and was bouncing back and forth for his food when it was fed to him, Nick said that he did always love his food.

This is not the photo that I intended it to be. This was the last photo that I ever took of Turkana. I had been meaning to visit him, but due to working and petrol prices I was unable to see him before his death. I was planning to visit him later on this month but sadly I have to write this instead. Turkana's death was a true shock to myself. Having seen him only last December, he looked in perfect health, and we all seemed to think that he had another three years in him atleast. 

He really was a handsome boy. To me he looked his age there, his mane was almost white in places, and it was slightly thinner then it had been previously. He may look quite short to you, but he was a typically small lion anyway. Definately smaller than Riziki and Zuri, however it could be the other way round, maybe in the UK, we are breeding bigger lions than would normally be seen in the wild, this is certainly true for mane sizes and so on etc.

To see more photos of Turkana and Mana please look on the posts that are printed below:

• To see the pictures from my visit on the 4th December last year please see this link.
• These are the photos from my visit to see Turkana and Mana in February 2011 aged fourteen, ten years on from my first visit. Please see this link.
• These pictures were taken in February 2008, showing them at twelve years old, please see this link.
• Pictures in this post are from the Summer of 2006, showing Turkana and Mana in their prime at ten years old. Please see this link.

Below are a quartet of photos donated by regular readers Nic and Diane. These photos were taken only a few days before he died, and show him looking a bit thin. And incredibly pale as had been explained before, you can really see it in these photos. They also said that on this visit they were two peices of untouched meat in his enclosure, perhaps indicating that all he was not well, as it had already been stated that Turkana did love his food.

Turkana was put under anesthetic as his poor health within his final 24 hours was giving huge warning to the team at Paradise. It was then discovered that he had a severe tumour, it was then decided that it would be best for him to not wake him up, a very difficult decision, done to keep Turkana in the best comfort possible.

I will always remember Turkana, he really did play a very important part in letting my inspiration grow, and I will never forget him. Below is a photo that I think is fantastic, here Turkana is 18 months old, after his hernia operations with his keeper Nick Loudon, the last time he went in with him. This photo was taken from Paradise Wildlife Park's Facebook Page.

Turkana was named after lake Turkana, a truly remarkable and very wild place, a very fitting name for such a remarkable creature.

There is only one more thing that is to be said now.

Rest In Peace Turkana, you will always be remembered.

Lion Update - 7th March 2013

As regular readers of the blog, Diane and Nic will know from their visit to Linton Zoo on the 5th March, I am more than happy to show people round Linton Zoo if they visit me when I am working. It was fantastic to see how regular readers have an interest with the lions that I write about and to share information with them.

This post with pictures from both myself and Diane and Nic will form an update of the year so far, to give you all an idea as to how all the lions are at the moment. These pictures give an idea of the majority of collections within the East of England, and is a good starting point. So a huge thankyou to Diane and Nic for sending me these photos. Hopefully with the help of other readers these updates may be a thing that will occur more and more in the future, as I can't be everywhere at once!!

Firstly a look at Woburns new boy Kasanga. As you will know if you read the blog I went to visit Kasanga late last year, you can see my photos in this post. Kasanga really is a complete stunner of a lion, but he is still very young, and compared to the size of the castrated boys he is still very small. He really is going to be a magnificent male when fully grown but I must stress that he is still very young. Reintroduction into the main group have been slow and at current he has only been reintroduced to a couple of lionesses when they are in season. My gut feeling about him settling in with the three castrated boys is that it will not work, they may be castrated but they are huge and very tight knit. I really do not think that they will take kindly to the arrival of a new lion, especially one like Kasanga.

Kasanga may only be three or so years old, but he has certainly developed very quickly. His mane is very long and covers a fair amount of his body already. He has still got to butch up a bit and his mane is still yet to darken. However this could be from his slight immaturity as a youngster and also his current lack of permanent female company. It is quite often thought that dark manes can be linked to the level of dominance within a group situation and also the level of female company.

Next up on the update post is Turkana at Paradise Wildlife Park. I myself visited Turkana in December last year as you can see in this post. The picture below gives a really good idea of how Turkana is doing. Here he is on top of his platform, this shows that he is still agile enough to climb and is still in a healthy shape. He does look a little bit thin and his skin does look more and more delicate but this is only natural from a male of his age, as he will be seventeen this year. He is also of a reasonably small size, but since he has always been small this is not a worry. Turkana did lose his sister and life long companion Mana in the Summer of last year, at present he is under the care of his life long keeper Nick Loudon who spends all of the day when he is at the Park with him to make sure that he is doing okay. He now has his own special heater in his house and is now given an even bigger bed to keep himself nice and warm as he no longer has a companion, he really is being kept in top class health by Nick. Turkana may be looking a bit pale and slightly dark in the face but this is just a natural part of looking older, his father suffered skin complaints too, so this is no surprise, however they do seem to be clearing up on his skin at the moment. So it looks like Turkana has survived this very cold Winter and hopefully he will be going for another couple of years yet.

 Not so much news for this photo, but a lovely photo of him. This is Spike the resident pride male at Whipsnade. He is a cousin of Zuri. For those of you who know Zuri you will be able to see quite a few similarities between the two. They both have huge long wavy manes and short stunted front legs. However there is one big difference in that Spike has a slightly hairy belly, and Zuri has no sign of hair there at all. To me this is a clear indication that a hairy belly should not be used as an accurate way to determine subspecies, and it really does vary from individual even within family groups. So it really is fantastic to see such a clear photo of him.

Below I have a couple of photos that are great to compare. These are Zero at Africa Alive! (Previously Suffolk Wildlife Park) And then Riziki at Linton Zoo. A photo taken by myself, and he was right at the back allowing a clear photo to be taken (well just about, the double mesh does not help!). These two are actually siblings, and were both born at Woburn Safari Park to Tamby and Sly. Zero has got a much lighter mane than Riziki, but his belly hair is constant all the way from his elbows right down to his back legs, whereas Riziki just has hair near his back legs and it does not follow right up to his elbows. 

Both of their faces are similiar, they have bold and very round faces. This is a big characteristic of the males born within this pride during that particular era.

These two really are superb males, both in the prime of their lives now. Riziki will be ten years old this year, and Zero will be nine. Interestingly Zero was named due to his lack of mane as a cub. His mane is still slightly shorter and lighter than Riziki's. He is not as impressive I think, but he is certainly all there as a male lion, he has a very good shape, and reasonably tall, but his mane seems to be lacking just a little bit.

Both of these male lions have bred. Riziki's cubs have been sent to other zoos whereas Zero's have stayed with him (as far as I know the males have been castrated). So this particular line will continue through the generations, which is good news I think, because this is a particularly superb strain of lions, one that doesn't seem to be inbred compared to other lines of lions in the UK.

Below are four final photos from Diane and Nic of Zuri and Safina on Tuesday (5th March). For the latest news on Zuri and Safi please look on my latest post from a couple of days ago on here.

Zuri and Safina had just been fed, so here you can see Safi enjoying her meat and Zuri sleeping it off! Both of these lions gorged on their meat before sleeping the rest of the afternoon, this is natural wild behaviour. Both pairs of lions were fed on Tuesday. Karla managed to distract Riziki away from his and tried to steal the remains, this she succeeded in! No wonder why she is looking big at the moment, and no wonder why they have to be fed seperate some times. Karla is a very fiesty lioness, and very cheeky too, and with Riziki being just so laid back and chilled, she is able to get away with things like that! Unfortunately for Zuri, Safi is just the same, and as she is a lot more agile than he is, she can get away with more as he cannot keep up with her! Or he cannot be bothered, either way she gets away with winding him up!

So I hope you have all enjoyed reading this post. So a huge thanks to Diane and Nic for sending me these photos. More and more photos from Linton Zoo will always be up on the blog, now that I am working there. 

Happy reading, and more will be up soon.

James

Zuri & Safi - 4th March 2013

This has turned out to be one of my favourite sets of Zuri and Safi photos

for a very long time! Thanks to the lovely weather today I spent a fair

time on my lunch and brought my camera with me.

Zuri and Saf spent most of the morning on top of their hill right in the way of the sun, both sat seperately and not together but still perfectly happy that way! After a few minutes I managed to persuade Safi to come over to say hello and as you can see this meant I was able to get some fab photos of her on her down to see me, my favourite is just as she approaches down and touches the grass with her eyes looking right at the camera! Isn't she great?! Safi came over to say hello and after a few rubs on the fence she settled down on the grass and after a few rolls and a lie down she settled for a sit down. Zuri then came down to say hello to Safi and they shared a few lion kisses and hugs, this was a fantastic photo opportunity as they were far enough away for the camera to focus completely on them, and the contrast of the green grass with no fence in the background was an added bonus in getting superb photos. After a few minutes Zuri went back up to his hill as he was before.

Safina however decided that she had had enough of sitting around doing nothing, and began to chase some of her bowling balls around. She managed to make it roll from the top of the hill and proceeded to chase it down round the fence line. This is really where you can gauge their strength as they can simply send these bowling balls flying with just one tap, it is fantastic to watch and no different to any domestic cat playing with a toy, just slightly more impressive!

With the zoo open fully now, seeing these animals in perfect weather is great for the visitors, and the very few number of people in the zoo today where able to witness Zuri & Safi have a great day in the sun. Nearly every visitor who has anything to say about the lions, always comment on how great Zuri looks on top of his hill. He adores that spot, he can see all over the zoo and like all cats lions love a vantage spot, and from his hill he can see many of the zoos animals, just like he would see animals on the plains like his wild cousins would.

Below are some of my favourite photos from today. Zuri came over to say hello and a quick greet to Safi, and as far as Zuri standards go he was remarkably subtle and very docile, all he wanted was a friendly hello! For those of you who may have gathered Zuri has definately got that male lion characteristic of wanting to pass on his genes anyway possible, and generally tries it on at every opportunity, but it was nice to see him not being a pain to Safina today and letting her enjoy her time in the sun and only coming down for a bit of company before retreating back up to his favourite spot.

Enjoy!

Having finished early I decided to go and see Zuri and Safi again after I had finished. Both of them were a lot more energetic after their doze in the sun and were busy patrolling around their enclosure waiting for someone to appear. And this person turned out to be me! Zuri definately seemed to be waiting for something, so it would not surprise me if they were fed later on this evening after I left. This is a huge highlight of working in a zoo, and seeing animals after visiting hours is i'm sure a dream to many of you reading this blog! The animals certainly come out more at night, and the lions are possibly the most easily noticeable to this statement. They are also more vocal in the evenings too, and they do roar to eachother frequently. Linton Zoo is unique its position of holding two pairs of lions in completely seperate accomodation. Both pairs are aware of eachothers presence but are unable to see eachother. So as lions would in the wild, male lions along with their pride females roar to proclaim this land their territory, to make sure that other male lions know that they are here and that this is their patch. However Zuri does not always give the last roar, and it is always Riziki who wins these battles. He is king of the zoo for sure!

This is one of my favourite photos of Zuri. He was stood up and suprisingly tall for his height. The way he was stood really allowed me to see how long and thick his mane is along his front and the way that his lighter streak continues down the center. Something had obviously caught his attention (I think the tigers across the path were just being fed, naturally food caught his eye!) He really is absolutely superb and a right old character, I do have a real soft spot for this guy, having known him since he was six weeks old. He really is one special lion, and it great to have the privilege to see him every working day.

I hope you have all enjoyed reading this post as much as I have enjoyed taking these photos today! Many more will be on the way shortly i'm sure.

Cheers

James