The majority of lions in this blog descend from this group of lions. This was the group of lions that I first visited in 2012. And it is this line of lions that captured by interest in lions and allowed me to fulfill it in following individual lions. But first I am giving a background to these lions...
All Safari Park lions descend from 'Chipperfield Lions'. These lions were brought into the country by Jimmy Chipperfield from all over the World, and were used to fill his first three Safari Parks in the UK, Longleat, Woburn and Blair Drummoned in the late 1960's when they were founded. A fantastic account of how this all happened is found on the old Glasgow Zoo website where the following extract came from...
"In the late 60s everything changed. Longleat, the first UK safari park, opened in 1969. Overnight, there was a requirement for large numbers of good-looking lions. "I was not happy with the existing zoo lions; many were clearly very inbred," Jimmy Chipperfield told me (pers. com. 1974). "We imported several groups, from Uganda in particular. Within a short time I was able to identify accurately any UK lion because ours were distinctly different from the original UK zoo ones, which tended, amongst other things, to have longer heads," he continued. This sort of observation and captive breeding are not 'scientific' as we know it today, but traditional 'stockmanship'."
The lions that Jimmy Chipperfield brought in have over the last forty years or so managed to spread so far, that it is estimated that all lions in the UK descend from these lions. Now that all of the prides have developed, they are all made up of a core of breeding females that are resident in the following Safari Parks;
- Woburn Safari Park
- Longleat Safari Park
- Knowsley Safari Park
- West Midlands Safari Park
- Blair Drummond Safari Park
Male lions are split and sent to eachother to breed with these females. With all of the male lions being spread around the UK to these groups over time, Each generation have different genetics to the one before and after.
Above is a postcard from Longleat Safari Park showing the new strain of Safari Park lions that Jimmy Chipperfield brought in, with their lean figures and long faces. Over time these characteristics have been blended in with original strain lions to create the different characteristics that can be seen in this post. So here is a very brief background to British Lions in the UK. What Jimmy Chipperfield managed to do was the freshen the British Zoo Lion gene pool. Zoos such as Linton have housed the spare and the surplus of the Safari Park lions, and like all other zoos, they now hold the remnants of the old Chipperfield lions.
So here we go, the lions that I visited in 2002 I quickly wanted to make an impact and I asked all the avaliable keepers that I could find out about the lions at the park. I could see that the lions at Woburn Safari Park had been under many generations of breeding, and what I saw was a rather content, but very elderly pride, with the last cubs being born in 1998, this Woburn pride was on the way out. The pride consisted of the following individuals;
Romeo - 8/12/1986
Legs Diamond - 6/11/1986
Delilah - 6/11/1986
Blondie - 29/8/1987
Jazmin - 24/6/1987
Amber - 28/9/1992
Sapphire - 28/9/1992
Gemma - 28/9/1992
Tamby - 13/10/1998
Below is a picture of the two elderly lions Romeo and Legs Diamond on that visit. These two males were both born at Woburn Safari Park, and had stayed on to breed with the other females of their generation. So as can be seen the Pride at Woburn Safari Park was split into two seperate generations, a picture below shows Legs Diamond with a few of the lionesses. This was a favourite haunt of the pride.
But sadly it was all not to last. Romeo and Legs Diamond died on
the 21st November 2002, and the 31st January 2003 respectively. Although not
old compared to some zoo lions, Safari Park male lions do not tend to live as long
because they are subject to the stresses and strains of keeping a pride of
lions in check. Whereas zoo lions are often kept in pairs and fights are often only in very rare moderation, generally only at food times, or the animals can be seperated a lot easier.
However shortly after their death, Knowsley Safari Park donated two
lions Sly and Shane to Woburn. Sly and Shane seemed like the perfect candidates
to take over the Woburn group and to sire a new generation of cubs. Sly and
Shane were half brothers and were born on the 15th May 1995 and the 16 July
1997 respectively. During their reign within the first year all of the elder
lionesses died due to the sudden change and their old age, leaving behind a
group of younger lionesses, who through Amber and Tamby, sired a whole new
generation of cubs as shown below.
However over the years conflicts between the two males meant
that Sly the older and previously more dominant was outcasted from the Pride
and died around 2008. Shane died in the Summer of 2011. Leaving behind a
cluster of elderly lionesses from their takeover and a mixture of younger
females and males, whose details are below.
These are the cubs born to;
Tamby and Sly
Ace - 26/1/04
Tyra - 26/1/04
Flint - 26/1/04
Bala - 26/1/04
Amber and Shane
Tallulah - 26/3/04
Naja - 26/3/04
Malika - 26/3/04
Tamby and Sly
Marley - 4/10/05
Dakota - 4/10/05
Abi - 4/10/05
Codie - 4/10/05
In 2012 Woburn brought in a young male Kasanga, who was born
in October 2009 in a European zoo. Fresh blood in the form of a young new male
yet to mature could be what this group of lions is looking for, with only two
of the old remnants of the original pride that I first saw left! A fantastic
example of how lion groups in Safari Parks change almost unknowingly in a short
amount of time. Below is a photo of Kasanga taken from my visit on the 30th November 2012.
Soon to be new pride leader of the Woburn group as soon as they are integrated
together.
So the third new male generation to enter this pride not only to breed, but with brand new genetics from Europe he may be able to ensure a bright future genetically for British Safari Park Lions.
This post on the follow the lions page has all the details of
Kasangas move as the head of the Woburn Pride to follow up to this, as well as
pictures from my previous visits.
This post shows pictures of Kasanga from my latest visit and my photos from the morning and afternoon safari circuits to see the rest of the pride.
This post shows pictures of Kasanga from my latest visit and my photos from the morning and afternoon safari circuits to see the rest of the pride.
All British Safari Park have worked in the same way as Woburn Safari Park, and males have been swapped around between all of them. Above is what this 'blood map' tries to show. The dates are when the lions were moved, as you can see within the last 10 years, male lions have been swapped all over between the different Safari Parks sometime via zoos inbetween.
So here is a background to the lions in the UK, and the first cubs born to Sly and Shane in 2003, the year of their takeover are Riziki and Karla, and it is these cubs who went to Linton Zoo to be handreared. And it is from these two where this blog started.
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