With tawny-colored fur, a long tufted tail, and weighing anywhere from 300 to 500 pounds, a lion is a muscular powerhouse. The male’s job is to protect the pride. However, the female is the primary “breadwinner.”
Like most cats, they sleep sixteen to twenty hours a day (my heros!). Lions are the only members of the cat family that are primarily social and generally live in family groups called prides.
Barbary Lions
Unlike most lions that live on the plains, the Barbary Lion occupied the woodlands of the mountains of the African continent. They were separated geographically from other lion populations almost entirely by deserts. Due to the cooler winters of their habitat, Barbary Lions had developed heavier bodies and thicker manes. The mane would often extend to the middle of the back, and in the Cape subspecies it was black with a tawny fringe around the face. The tips of the ears were also black.
Until recently, scientists believed Barbary lions to be completely extinct. Right now, lions scattered around the globe are having DNA samples taken from them to be compared to museum specimens of Barbary and/or Cape lions.
Zazu and Reno have called Big Cats of Serenity Springs home their entire lives. These brothers are eight years old and love to mark visitors by spraying them.
Atlas and Zuri are true sweethearts! Before moving to the ranch, they starred in several commercials for a local furniture company. Their owner abandoned them, along with 30+ other big cats in South Dakota. They were rescued and brought here where they have been living happily for over a year.
KK (that's him at the top of the page too) has been at the ranch for 7 of his 9 years. He arrived with Vandy, who has the distinction of being the oldest cat here at the ripe old age of 25.
