Every year on August 10 World Lion Day is celebrated.
Why we celebrate Lion Day on this day, and who started this holiday, unfortunately, is unknown. However, it should be noted that the first lions were kept in captivity in 850 BC in ancient Assyria (Assyria – an ancient state in northern Mesopotamia in the II - I millennium BC). In the XVII century representatives of this species appeared in European zoos. In the XIX century along with the colonial trade began to flourish a trade in wildlife. At this time, lions were a common live commodity in the markets and were sold at a relatively low price. Why? The fact is that the African continent supplied an unlimited number of animals for sale. Unfortunately, many of them died during transportation. Lion hunters killed animals to feel like real heroes, flaunting against the background of a dead beast. Lions were exterminated on the principle of "these creatures are bad and these are good."
The main reasons for the reduction in their numbers at the moment are climate change, disease and reckless human activity.
Today, environmentalists are trying to draw the world's attention to the problem of preserving the king of beasts, whose numbers have begun to decline significantly in the wild. And it is the activities of protected areas, including zoos, contributes to the preservation of one of the largest predators on the planet.
Mykolaiv Zoo joins in celebration of World Lion Day.
A real lion's pride lives in our zoo. The leader of the pride is the male named Lank, he lives with female Lola and their children Simba and Ilana, born in 2019. The eldest daughter of Lank and Lola, Hermiona, born in 2018, lives in a separate enclosure. Other children, Lars and Leda, who were born this year, were recently sent to Lutsk Zoo.
We invite everyone to a summer walk to our zoo to congratulate the royal family on World Lion Day! You can see the lions in the exhibit complex "Island of beasts".
