Big Cat Update

M

Mike11

Well-Known Member
I was just wondering if anyone knows anything about any Asiatic Lion cubs being born to Kamal and Moti at Bristol Zoo as they were introduced a year ago and also what the situation of the Asiatic Lions Abi and Lucifer at London Zoo as they have been together for 3/4 years now have any cubs been born? and a last thing Connie at Newquay Zoo, they said a mate would be found soon but no males have arrived i know several zoos where there are surplus African male lions does anybody know why she is still on her own?
Thanks for any info it will be great to hear anything as lions are of an enormous interest to me.
Thanks again
 
I was thinking the same thing about the Bristol zoo lions. I think personally Bristol only used Kamal's Valentine day move in 2008 as a publicity stunt, as Moti must be too old to concieve now, she must be nearly 15 years old. The same would apply to the Cotwolds lions, the female must be around 14 herself.

As for London zoo's, i dunno! they did have cubs early on but they didnt survive.

And finally as for Newquay, i emailed them a while ago asking if a new male was going to be introduced as they just said there were 'no current plans to' which is stupid really as there are lots of safari parks desperate to shift on some males and newquay want to keep a female on her own....i remember southport zoo got ridiculed for keeping a lioness on her own for years...so why would newquay be different. Its a shame for Connie as well, coming from a large pride at longleat, to now just be in isolation.

Are there plans for Chester's lions to breed again or has this now been halted due to the cubs death?
 
Paulkarli08 said:
Are there plans for Chester's lions to breed again or has this now been halted due to the cubs death?
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Inbreeding in the Asiatic Lion population are causing all sorts of problems with breeding at the moment.

There is no news on whether breeding will be halted with Asha at Chester. It was mentioned that Chester were looking at acquiring a second female (somewhere here on zoochat).

As for the other collections, I do not know anything off but breeding of Asiatic lion has been slow since the early 00's.
 
I agree with you PaulKarli08 it is very harsh to take a lion out of a pride and put her into isolation there are spare lions in prides such as Woburn,Knowsley Possibly Blair Drummond and there are three 5 year old Males at the Wildlife Heritage Foundation she must be around 12 now so maybe they are waiting for her to go? :(
Bristol did use Valentines Day as a big publicity stunt for the lions but Moti is very important to the gene pool so maybe some cubs could be born soon then Kamal is back to Twycross.
Shame about London and thought they had some cubs but shame they died.
I agree Tuan Breeding have stopped quite abit since 2000
Thanks for any info and any more will be apprieciated
 
We allready knew this Cat man sadly Kabir died last year of a broken leg so connie has been on her own for some time,
 
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taun said:
As for the other collections, I do not know anything off but breeding of Asiatic lion has been slow since the early 00's.
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I'm wondering if breeding has slowed(almost halted?) as the species is reaching saturation point and its becoming much harder to place cubs.

Regading the 'repartnered' pairs at Bristol & Cotswold- it seems odd to want to breed with such elderly animals(particularly the females) but at the time of the exchanges both locations(more particularly Bristol) did register a continued interest in breeding- perhaps it was just publicity though.:confused:
 
Yeah it mayof halted since Asiatic Lions starting coming to London then Chester in the 1990's zoos have quickly their Africans for asians like Edinburgh,Twycross have but they seem to of reached maximum breeding point as no zoos can take any.Maybe non breeding groups may be formed.
Both Cotswolds and Bristols pair are old for the excpetion of Kamal who is middle aged.I think they wanted a last chance to breed with Moti and as Chandra has a very low sperm count Cotswold knew there was bassically no chance of cubs they just needed a mate for their lonely female.
 
Riziki said:
We allready knew this Cat man sadly Kabir died last year of a broken leg so connie has been on her own for some time,
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sorry, i saw it on animal park, and thort it might be the anwser to what you were asking:(
 
Oh No worries Cat Man i saw that one too! Animal Parks latest series featured him too so it must of been filmed a year ago.Shame that he died he was such a magnificant individual.
 
Riziki said:
Oh No worries Cat Man i saw that one too! Animal Parks latest series featured him too so it must of been filmed a year ago.Shame that he died he was such a magnificant individual.
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yes, and a so called 'barbary lion'
 
Yeah Barbary Lions in captivity..........hmm perhaps arent Pure barbary;)
But if they do have barbary in them and zoos are trying to release them back nothing else can be made worse!
Well excpet about 15 lions at Longleat have a strain of Barbary Blood and that could contaminate the Uk Lion population lets save that for another thread! ;)
What i can remember Londons Lion enclosure was pretty big and done out well for the Asians its the tigers they are having trouble with at the moment.Has anybody got any info on the encosure or any pics?
Also does anybody know what the Newquay lion enclosure is like?
Would be fantastic to recieve any information.
Regards
 
Riziki said:
But if they do have barbary in them and zoos are trying to release them back nothing else can be made worse!
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Nowhere is trying to release Barbary Lions- there are no suitable reintroduction sites.

Recent Scientific research analysis (DNA comparison of know museum specimens from North Africa with existing possible Barbary Lions) has also proved that the 'Barbary' Lions in captivity which have been tested do not carry ANY genes from true Barbary Lions but come instead from sub- Saharan lion stock.. That includes the ones at Rabat Zoo and their descendants at Port Lypmne and Belfast (and so includes Kabir). So zoo propaganda about Barbary Lions and reintroduction schemes is unfortunately a myth.
 
Riziki said:
What i can remember Londons Lion enclosure was pretty big and done out well for the Asians its the tigers they are having trouble with at the moment.Has anybody got any info on the encosure or any pics?
Also does anybody know what the Newquay lion enclosure is like?
Would be fantastic to recieve any information.
Regards
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well msot of what you're asking has been covered on other threads but i can help with the newquay zoo enclosure:

it's pretty small (made to seem even smaller by the huge and stocky connie) with a standard tall fence, wooden platform and hotwired trees (just one or two). the indoor are is very dark and small again not really suited to such big animals. i have always though the lions should be replaced by something smaller at newquay as the enclosure is just too small for them.

these should help: Flickr: Search
 
Pertinax said:
I'm wondering if breeding has slowed(almost halted?) as the species is reaching saturation point and its becoming much harder to place cubs.
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I suspect this was the very reason we have not had many births in the UK for awhile. It becomes a lot harder to manage the studbook when the space for the lions in is limited.

Shame one or two of the safari parks don't jump on the Asiatic lion bandwagon. Would have a lot more space for this species.
 
"Shame one or two of the safari parks don't jump on the Asiatic lion bandwagon. Would have a lot more space for this species."

I've always wondered why they don't actually, it's odd.
 
ashley-h said:
"Shame one or two of the safari parks don't jump on the Asiatic lion bandwagon. Would have a lot more space for this species..
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...maybe if they where white, west midlands would be in there like a shot!

I'm quite surprised that Blackpool weren't interested in going into the Asiatics. I know Dublin Zoo has 2 females ready for them once their African lioness dies
 
ashley-h said:
I've always wondered why they don't actually, it's odd.
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Am unsure on this but have heard that Asiatic lions don't really live in large groups in the wild, which may put a few safari parks off.

I gather they would mix quiet happily in a larger group it may be worth one trying it with surplas animals first.
 
I think why Safari patks do not have them is because as they are not as impressive as Africans and do not naturally live in Big groups although i am sure that i could work.
Someone was saying that they are going to try and rehabilitate Their Barbarys in the next 20 or so years and it is just going into the planning stages.
The Lions at PL do look differebt to the Africans i see in other zoos so it may be a very slight barbary connection.
Thankyou for all the infomation its brilliant to find out all this! it seems that Newquays Lion Enclosure would be much more suited to other cats such as Leopards etc.I have heard alot of things about it being rather small.
 
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