Lionesses arrive for Zulu and Masai - June 2013

Now approaching their fourth year, I have been thinking that it has been

about time for Zulu and Masai to be paired up if they were going to be bred in the future. So I was delighted to find out that two lionesses arrived at Noahs Ark Zoo Farm last week for Zulu and Masai. The picture below shows one of the males,  I am not sure when this photo was taken but it is very interesting for two reasons;

• The first reason being that their mane is incredibly light compared to their father and grandfather at that age. This could be an age thing, they are only four years old, but generally at that age manes are darker than that. My view is that they have a lack of female company and that will have an effect on their testosterone levels. Males that have female company from a young age, will have a darker mane straight away. For example when Turkana at Paradise was only two years old, because he was in an enclosure with four other girls his mane was huge and very dark and a very young age. With both males at Linton having female company since a very young age once again their manes would have developed at a faster pace compared to those who have grown up on their own such as Zulu and Masai.

• The second reason is that the two boys seem to be a huge mix between their father Zuri and their grandfather Riziki. They really do look superb, and although they have quite a long face, they have a very bold eye ridge and mouth just like Riziki.

Riziki above shows his very bold face and eye ridge that can be seen in his grandson below. Whereas Zuri below has a much 'softer' face in comparison to Zuri, and a much longer face. 

Zulu or Masai below shows a real mix of characteristics inherited from their father and grandfather. From what I can match up I have to say that my personal view is that face wise they are more like their grandfather Riziki, so they definately look a lot like their mum Safi! 

They really have changed since I last saw them at Linton Zoo as cubs in January 2010.

Below is the really interesting photo of one of the two boys resident at Noah's Ark Zoo Farm.

It is great to see the boys so grown up now and I cannot wait to see how they get on with the two females, it will also be interesting to see how they will develop over time within the next two years.

The link to the article where I got the photo from is shown here.

The two lionesses have come from Heythrop Zoological Gardens - 'Amazing Animals' so I have no idea what their heritage is. However it will be interesting to see what they look like and I will try my best to find some photos for you all to see. Another interesting thing is that they don't intend on keeping two pairs and seem to want to send another pair somewhere else. I personally am not sure if there is any space for a new pair of breeding lions in the UK, but i'm sure somewhere will manage to snap them up, so any progress about that will be posted as soon as I know. 

So with the arrival of lionesses it might be that cubs may be on their way very soon aswell! Any news will be posted up as soon as I know.

Thanks everyone for reading, and I will keep you all updated as soon as any news reaches me.

James