true love!!!!!!

Years ago, a friend of mine was a docent at the local zoo. She asked me if I wanted to come sit with her on giraffe birth-watch one night, which involved sitting in a small room with a video monitor hooked up to Ms. Giraffe’s stall, so we could call if she went into labor.

This was from 8 pm to midnight. Midnight came with no baby giraffe, and as we were leaving, we had to pass through the entryway into the building that held the big cats.

And we could hear them breathing as they slept. It echoed in the passageway. It was a very strange, very primal experience. And very, very cool.

Lurkertype: Love that lion enclosure in Vegas, too. I bought the fridge magnet that shows a male lion, lying regally down, below a caption that reads “HERE HUMAN, HUMAN, HUMAN.”

jenjen, I saw that at happen at the MGM Grand in Vegas. The kid was about 3 and was all giggly that “kitty!” was paying attention… didn’t have the heart to say to the kid or the dad with camcorder, “Ya know, ‘kitty’ thinks you look like a perfect hors d’oeuvre.”

They have lions on display a few hours at a time and you can get right up to them (saving, of course for the really thick plastic walls). At feeding time, it’s amazing to watch the tongues and teef at work. That, and it’s the funnest to walk through the tunnel and look up at lion tummies all sprawled flat above you. Snorgling NOT advised.

The white tigers get all the press in Vegas, but the lions is purdy too, and you can get closer to them — and for free.

you know sometimes it’s not about ya but about the cub…shhhhh!

I hope Meg is well? Not sick? Fluish? That can keep you from posting fer a longtime.

i can say it smell like smoke in the savane but will take our cubs out of danger and bring them in a safe area…what a women cant do:)

awwwww,how cute,they look like a blown up version of my cats,licking each other and layin down

Oooh, look at licked kitty.
Her ears are all curled inward.
I bet she’s wiggling her toes too — such a nice neck cleaning.

And Thalia I love Sir Issac.
Tuxie boys are so magnificent.

I love reading all these lion stories! I have to confess, I haven’t had too many “chilling” experiences with lions. But I had one with a male gorilla so I know the thrill of it.

There is a wildlife refuge in Colorado where they took in animals that were dumped by wealthy pet owners or rescued from furriers. So they had lions, tigers, bears, wolf hybrids, foxes, cougars, etc. I went there with my dad and one of the keepers let me go right up to the bars and touch the animals. One of them was a big male lion named Winston. He was beautiful and he was so ridiculously friendly, he kept rubbing himself along the fence and pushing his nose up to us to pet. And all I could think of was Jack Hanna “Any animal will bite–ANY animal.” And the size of those teeth commanded major respect. So I tenatively reached out and touched his nose and petted his mane. I want to say he licked my finger but I can’t remember. I’ve never forgotten it.