The state of lions in zoos and the wild and zoo lion exhibits

DavidBrown

DavidBrown

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
I have realized lately that I take lions for granted. I always enjoy seeing them in zoos, but they are not an animal that I usually seek out like graffes, elephants, or otters.

In the 1980s when Asian lions were becoming widespread in U.S. zoos (and around the world?), the program suddenly halted when the gene pool was found to be hybridized with African lions. Is there now a "pure bred" Asian lion captive breeding program in zoos in the U.S., Europe, and/or Asia. I am only aware of African lions being in AZA zoos.

African lion populations have nosedived in population numbers by apocalyptic amounts in recent years (the website says 90% in the past decade, Lion Conservation Fund: About Us). This is a shocking message that really needs to be broadcast. Are the lion zoo exhibits and interpretation plans of the world doing this? To some degree I think that "Lion Camp" at the San Diego Safari Park is, but no other lion exhibits that I have seen have done much.

Is anyone involved in any zoo-based lion conservation programs? As one of the most beloved animals in the world, I would hope that zoos could get their act together as conservation organizations and do something constructive to help them survive in the wild.

Where are the best lion exhibits in the world that are model exhibits that zoo designers should learn from? The best lion exhibit that I have seen is "Lion Camp" at San Diego. From the pictures in the gallery it looks like the Virginia Zoo has a very nice lion exhibit also. What are the elements of a great lion exhibit?
 
Another question that I have about lions and zoos is whether the white lions that Sigfried and Roy and the Cincinnati Zoo breed and exhibit are really of conservation significance as they claim they are.

I am not aware that these lions actually exist in nature as a separate unit from normal lions. It seems like the claim that they have any special significance is marketing hype rather than real conservation biology, but I would like to hear if there are other opinions on this.
 
The lion is an interesting example of a very high profile species where European and North American zoos really don't seem to get involved with each other.

Research on ISIS (data as at 1 December 2011) shows the following.

In the first place, there are 11 European zoos holding "Barbary" lions (P.l.leo), totalling 11:23 animals. I use quote marks because there's a widely held school of thought that these animals, which originate from animals held in Moroccan collections, are not pure bred and that the animals are thus just bog standard African zoo lions.

In addition, and the main thrust of EAZA activity, there is a programme for the Asiatic lion (P.l.persica). This is now 20 years old and stems from animals imported from Sakkarbaugh Zoo in Gujerat, India. There are now 35:60 animals held in 35 collections. Additionally, 82:107 animals are held in 14 Asian zoos. Of that number, 142 are held in three collections in India, where Sakkarbaugh Zoo holds a total of 41:55!!

I can't help thinking that it would be in the long-term interest of the subspecies if a very large chunk of that last holding went somewhere else.
 
IanRRobinson said:
Of that number, 142 are held in three collections in India, where Sakkarbaugh Zoo holds a total of 41:55!!

I can't help thinking that it would be in the long-term interest of the subspecies if a very large chunk of that last holding went somewhere else.
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This sounds unbelievably risky to me! All it would take would be a serious virus to spread though the cats for them to be no more. I agree that they should be shipped out to some more European, American and other Asian zoos.
 
I believe the european programme for asian lions is going well, so why have they not been imported to America since the last ones died in New Orleans?
 
DavidBrown said:
Another question that I have about lions and zoos is whether the white lions that Sigfried and Roy and the Cincinnati Zoo breed and exhibit are really of conservation significance as they claim they are.

I am not aware that these lions actually exist in nature as a separate unit from normal lions. It seems like the claim that they have any special significance is marketing hype rather than real conservation biology, but I would like to hear if there are other opinions on this.
Click to expand...

The Cincinnati Zoo does not promote the "white" colouration or "rarity" of their lions as heavily as they did in the past. The zoo also does not actively breed their lions any longer, though they did in the past. I'm glad to see zoos moving away from such promotions of not only their white lions, but also white tigers.
 
Why african and not asian lions in the United States? There is a section on this in the book Sailing With Noah by St Louis Zoo director Jeffrey Bonner. At the time the lion SSP was established, he was director of the Indianapolis Zoo. It was decided that the lions in the states did not have well documented enough pedigrees, so all new founders should be imported and the current (at the time) collection cease breeding. Bonner advocated for starting an asian lion SSP, but others won out in establishing an african lion SSP instead. In the book he said he still disagreed with that decision. However, since the book was written african lion numbers continue to decline, so maybe it as a good thing to have american zoos focus on them while european zoos focus on the others.
 
Great lion exhibits?

San Diego Wild Animal Park (USA)
Wuppertal Zoo (Germany)
Le Parc Des Felins (France)
Sedgwick County Zoo (USA)
Out Of Africa (USA)
Houston Zoo (USA)
Denver Zoo (USA)
 
Arizona Docent said:
However, since the book was written african lion numbers continue to decline, so maybe it as a good thing to have american zoos focus on them while european zoos focus on the others.
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Sadly the conservation problem for lions has escalated exponentially since the collapse of the Asian lion SSP in the 1980s, so it may be good that there is a zoo program for African lions. I really wish that there was more educational push by the AZA to get the lion conservation story out more effectively.

@Arizona Docent: where is the best lion exhibit that you have seen?
Oops, missed your second post. Thanks for the list.
 
Arizona Docent said:
Great lion exhibits?

San Diego Wild Animal Park (USA)
Wuppertal Zoo (Germany)
Le Parc Des Felins (France)
Sedgwick County Zoo (USA)
Out Of Africa (USA)
Houston Zoo (USA)
Denver Zoo (USA)
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Excellent list, to which I would add Disney's Animal kingdom, Leipzig, Hannover, Woodland Park and (from photos) John Ball Zoo.
 
I think Woodland Park Zoo and also Whipsnade have very good enclosures. Basel and Zürich seem to but I haven't seen them in person. I also like the Bronx where the lion enclosure forms part of the African savannah exhibit with hidden barriers.
 
Arizona Docent said:
Great lion exhibits?

San Diego Wild Animal Park (USA)
Wuppertal Zoo (Germany)
Le Parc Des Felins (France)
Sedgwick County Zoo (USA)
Out Of Africa (USA)
Houston Zoo (USA)
Denver Zoo (USA)
Click to expand...
The only thing Wuppertals has going for it is the sheer size,and even despite that they can that keep all the Lions in the same enclosure!!!
 
reduakari said:
Excellent list, to which I would add Disney's Animal kingdom, Leipzig, Hannover, Woodland Park and (from photos) John Ball Zoo.
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Leipzig and Hannover are OK, but that's it.

I would add: Arnhem (Netherlands) and Zürich (Swiss)!
 
Some people don't like it but I would also add Werribbe Zoo's exhibit. It has no visible barriers except those that are separating you from the lions and there are two exhibits so the group can be split up if need be.
Here's the Zoolex presentation for it. http://www.zoolex.org/zoolexcgi/view.py?id=762
 
Houston, along with having an awesome exhibit, has a relationship with the Niassa Carnivore Project in Mozambique, which does a lot of conservation work through community outreach and education. I got to attend Houston's lion fun days this year, which was really exciting and educational both for children and their parents.

Kids from Houston connecting with children in Mozambique in a “Lion Fun Day” | Wild Conservation - A Houston Zoo Blog

It's a once a year event (and clearly took a ton of time and planning on the part of the keepers) but the keepers do a great job of including the conservation message in their regular chats with guests. I might be a tiny bit biased, seeing how it's my local zoo and I'm a huge canine/feline lover, but I think Houston has made steps recently towards having a really top notch carnivore collection/exhibit space.
 
my take

Its not so much what is the best lion exhibit, but how does that exhibit teach and train those animals in captivity to be wild animals in the future. What is the point of having a massive stock pile of captive animals if out of the multitudes of generations none are ever placed back in the wild? Flip side of that is if their wild skills are honed, where the hell do we put them? For example the extinction of the java rhino poached to death in Vietnam and the sale of illegal tiger parts decimating south china tigers to just a paper thin line away from extinction.

More zoos, as gory as it is, need to do live feedings at times when that wild animal would normally hunt. Jaguars and cougars make a kill in the cloak of night and stash a kill to feed on for several nights. Think on it a little, if this never to be released captive female jaguar knows these tactics, she can teach it to her offspring that could be released into conservation areas. But once again, i'll jump to the java rhino, this time the population that is in java, their preserve carrying capacity is only about the 50 to 60 they have. They are maxed out and the rhinos need more space, tho they do have plans for a second population.

I do not know how zoos choose their animals or obtain them. Looking at it form someone that has been looking at how USA zoo maps evolve over time, i've seen collections grow out of what people expect to see not necessarily what they need to see. People know lions live in Africa and expect to see animals that live in Africa not Asia. But a choice like that can echo for decades in a zoo because that zoo had built an environment to suit that animal. So if you have a old African lion grotto in a part of the park surrounded by zebra, gazelle, and what not, it wouldn't make sense to slap an Asian lion in there. So then they put another pride of African lions into that habitat fueling that choice for decades to come. The old species based lay out, can make it easy to change to a new design, like in Denver Zoo with their new Asian Tropics area. The bright side is that in recent years, much like with Denver Zoo, there has been a massive shift among zoos for larger mixed exhibits, using the old grottoes for other animals in favor of uprooting the lay out of their zoo from species based groupings to country locations and/or biome regions. This allows zoos to remake the choice of what animals will be in their collection. But the next question is, what do you do with the animals that zoo had, if they choose an Asian lion over and African one?

Oh and white lions are out in the wild still, tho very rare. There was a sighting of 2 cubs in south Africa with a tawny mother. It is just often cubs like these rarely if never make it to adult hood, because in a sea of tawny grass white fur stands out. They ether starve or are preyed on and im sure poaching for that rare color isn't out of the question. Animal Planet's "Caught in the Act" show featured the white lion cub footage and also National Geographic Wild had a documentary with a segment on white lions in southern part of Africa. Can't remember what the later was called tho.
 
I don't really see zoos as facilities breeding animals for reintroduction, or at least not for carnivores. I know reintroduction programs led by zoos have been successful for some species, like the Arabian oryx and various herps, but reintroducing carnivores is a whole other kind of difficult.

For example, I'm particularly interested in African painted dogs and I once had the chance to talk with a researcher leading a project to reintroduce them in South Africa. They were taking dogs from the wild from other locations and transplanting them, so they didn't even have to deal with the difficulty of teaching them survival skills. Even so, it was an extremely long process of convincing the people who's fathers and grandfathers had exterminated to dogs in the first place that it was a good thing to have these predators running around. It was very similar to the circumstances surrounding grey wolf restoration in the U.S.

Zoos, by and large, don't take animals from the wild to be exhibited, at least not within the past few decades. The purpose of breeding animals is to maintain a diverse captive population so that no new blood has to be taken from decreasing wild populations. As for which animals are bred and displayed, part of it has to do with the AZA and SSPs but a lot is also controlled by zoo visitors. People expect to see lions at the zoo so zoos almost always have lions. There is the concept of zoos as "arks" so that, if a species such as the amur tiger does disappear in the wild, a last ditch effort might be made at reintroduction.

The main reason animals are going extinct, though, is not really for lack of breeding in the wild. For carnivores, it's mainly because of things like habitat loss and poaching. If the last tigers die off and we send 100 zoo-bred tigers to replace them, we'd be putting them into the same fragmented environment with the same amount of black market trading and the same dieing off of other species that tigers depend on. So many things would have to change for those zoo-born tigers to have even a chance at surviving, and hopefully those changes can occur before the wild population goes extinct to begin with.

The role zoos should be and are filling is educating the public so that people become interested in the natural world and its protection. After visiting a zoo hopefully guests will feel inspired to donate to conservation projects, or support legislation to protect species within their country. Maybe a guest will choose not to consume bushmeat or shark fin soup, even if they are legal or at least available. Maybe they'll decide to travel to other countries and support their economies in ways that don't harm the environment.


As for live feeding large carnivores, it has its pros and cons. It would certainly be enriching for the carnivores and help them maintain their body condition, but it can also be extremely dangerous and is certainly morally questionable from the prey's perspective. Carnivores can be fatally wounded by the hooves and horns of ungulates that they would naturally prey on and even things like rabbits can scratch and bite them, leading to potential infections. Then you must consider the kind of stress you put on a prey species by putting it into a predator's exhibit. What if the carnivore isn't hungry enough to bother hunting and the animal is trapped, fearing for its life, for a day or more? It's not exactly a fair fight either if the prey species has no chance for escape.
 
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