Leaping Lioness

Jumping from a tree held no fear for our big cat Beryl.

And senior keeper Ian Turner captured the stunning sequence of images which shows the power of the African lion.

Ian said: “A lion can jump up 12 feet and leap 36 feet and it’s always an impressive sight. I captured the image of her in the tree and then she moved, and I thought she was about to jump so had the camera ready.”

Beryl is one of Harry’s pride and the photographs show her rippling muscles as she pauses to jump, and then mid-flight before landing safely on the ground, several feet below the branch. Beryl is nearly 12 and was born at Longleat.

We have two prides of lions which can be seen as part of the Drive-Through Safari.