Knowsley Safari Park Knowsley Lions
- Thread starter Mfuwe
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The best person to make contact with is James Welch of the Safina Lion Conservation Fund. He worked at Knowsley and continued to work with the park and other Zoos through his organisation. He is hugely knowledgeable about this bloodline and has been generous with his time when I have made contact with him in the past. I made contact using the organisation email info@safinalionconservation.org and it was James who replied directly from this account.Finally doing my disseratation can anyone tell me if hugo & henry , masai , sky , poppy & willow are offspring of jasmine and if there are any individuals not included that died prematurely ? Thanks all
He made reference in a post on Facebook the other week in regards to relationships between lions such as Sam and Hugo. Sam is Hugo’s nephew so I’m sure he can fill in some gaps. In regard to the Knowsley bloodline
There are these offspring born to Jasmine in 2012 (Jessica and Victoria, named after Jess Ennis and Victoria Pendleton > Lion cubs named after London 2012 stars are pride of the pack You also have Sapphire who is the sister of Savannah who is also one of Jasmine’s offspring.
Scooter, Mojo and Sky are half siblings of Sam so that must mean that Kenya was their Dad but Savannah not their Mum. Sean was Sam’s brother I think he went to Denmark.
Poppy and Willow are offspring of Masai and Kenya. Masai was born 5 months after Jasmine so will be had half sister.
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Sorry made a silly typo in previous post
Scooter, Mojo and Sky were half siblings of Sam, so that must mean that Kenya was their Dad but JASMINE was not their Mum. Sean was Sam’s brother, I believe he went to Denmark.
Poppy and Willow are offspring of Masai and Kenya. Masai was born 5 months after Jasmine so will be Jasmine’s half sister.
That’s about as much as I can work out from making connections from various internet searches. Jasmines sister Handaya also had 3 cubs called Gold, Silver and Bronze in 2012 >> Knowsley Safari Park welcome their new lion cubs Gold, Silver and Bronze
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In addition I found out Masai is the Mum of Scooter, Mojo and Sky.
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I tried to put a bit of a family tree together. Media reports from August 2012 mention two cubs being born 8 weeks earlier to Jasmine (June 2012) called Jessica and Victoria named after Gold Medalists at London 2012, Jessica Ennis and Victoria Pendleton. I am assuming that this was done for media purposes and that these two lions are now known as Savannah and Sapphire.
I am also unsure if Handaya’s three Male cubs Gold, Silver and Bronze maintained these names or again they were just for media purposes
I am also unsure if Handaya’s three Male cubs Gold, Silver and Bronze maintained these names or again they were just for media purposes
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@BillBoy80 you are correct.
"Victoria" and "Jessica" were renamed Savannah and Sapphire.
As for Handeya's sons "Gold, Silver & Bronze" I never discovered where they ended up but are no longer at Knowsley that I'm aware of.
"Victoria" and "Jessica" were renamed Savannah and Sapphire.
As for Handeya's sons "Gold, Silver & Bronze" I never discovered where they ended up but are no longer at Knowsley that I'm aware of.
The Hedgehog
Well-Known Member
No idea. Probably "Jessica" & "Victoria " were just used as a PR stunt as they were born around the time of London 2012 to attract visitors.
To be honest the only Lions we can’t account for from the births that we as the public are aware of being born at Knowsley are Gold, Silver and Bronze. The fact that they renamed sensibly named Olympic named lions Jessica and Victoria to Savannah and Sapphire implies that it is highly unlikely those males would be carrying the Gold, Silver and Bronze name today, why it is impossible to find them through an internet search.
Unlike many parks Knowsley has completely curtailed the breeding programme and are down to just 6 lions, from nearly triple this, so I think they are being highly responsible in focusing on the well being of their Lions ahead of allowing mating to produce Cubs to draw in more customers.
I do feel it would be nice for Knowsley to share more about individual animals as I know many Zoos and Parks do give a profile of each individual animal e.g, where born, age, personality etc. Knowing how much the staff at Knowsley love the animals they look after this would be a relatively simple thing to do. The only real example at Knowsley of the names of animals being actively shared is at the new Lion enclosure with Bira and Sinda but it would be nice to see more background on them on the signs e.g. their birthdays and where they were born. I know my friends little girl loves knowing the names of the giraffes for example but she wouldn’t had I not been on a forum to know their names. I am aware some Zoos share different names for their animals with the public and I can see the logic in that but its still nice for people to be able to attach a name to an animal (even if it is not the one they respond to).
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Yeah i completely appreciate that the majority of collections have evolved since 2014- though the lionesses that went to france were intended to be a breeding pride . I was making a sweeping statement about lions from father - daughter crosses live long than sibling crosses but i didn’t know about the three male cubs and it appears Sapphire.
I’ve always been so frustrated when social media pages of collections don’t identify the animals or mention their passing so i know the feeling.
. I was making a sweeping statement about lions from father - daughter crosses live long than sibling crosses but i didn’t know about the three male cubs and it appears Sapphire. I’ve always been so frustrated when social media pages of collections don’t identify the animals or mention their passing so i know the feeling.
Yeah i completely appreciate that the majority of collections have evolved since 2014- though the lionesses that went to france were intended to be a breeding pride
I’ve always been so frustrated when social media pages of collections don’t identify the animals or mention their passing so i know the feeling.
Yes I would be surprised if they allowed a male as they did with Kenya to father three generations of the same pride again. From the physical appearance and temperament of the Lions it does seem to have worked well, in the same way selective breeding can have positive results in exaggerating traits e.g. in guide dogs.
The Knowsley Lions are very impressive in physical appearance and temperament, Sam being a prime example (I’m not suggesting that doesn’t mean there could be recessive traits that could result in underlying issues we don’t see, of course we know that is a major issue with inbreeding).
The fact Sam has had a vasectomy implies that the next breeding male will eventually come from outside the existing Pride. The age of the pride is not that diverse and they tend to like to retire animals from the show arena when they are getting older, so I think we will likely see significant changes to the dynamic of the pride over the next 3-4 years
The situation with Sapphire is unusual as they reported the death of Mojo in a fight, which makes it surprising they did not do so with Sapphire. There is no evidence she was transferred, so it would appear she passed away. Savannah her sister is quite the loner of the group, so I don’t if that is linked to the infighting between the two sisters back in the day.
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Longleat are in the same predicament, though i’m sure it’ll take longer than 3/4 to lower their stock numbers to a point where breeding is possible. Lots of aged prides in the Uk atm so i anticipate a complete overhaul in the next decade ( i say decade as lionesses seem to be making it to 20 odd a lot more these days ).
It seems to be common place for lionesses to just disappear without trace to the general public - still curious about kamara from woburn.
It seems to be common place for lionesses to just disappear without trace to the general public - still curious about kamara from woburn.
I think Knowsley are in a decent position now with only 6 lions that are all of a similar age that they can swap out the pride as a whole and turn them into a second older retirement pride. Historically all the lions at Knowsley have descended from the original Lion pride so would be a big move to lose that genetic connection but unless they swap out Sam (who is such an impressive male) that’s their only option. It seems like 15 is the most likely maximum age for a female to breed so unless they swap Sam out in the next couple of years then Savannah will be the only potential breeding option in the existing pride.,