Lion taming
Encyclopedia
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
s, either for protection, whereby the practice was probably created, or, more commonly, entertainment, particularly in the circus
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
. The term is also often used for the taming and display of other big cats such as tiger
Tiger
The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...
s, leopard
Leopard
The leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its...
s, jaguar
Jaguar
The jaguar is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Southern United States and Mexico...
s, cheetah
Cheetah
The cheetah is a large-sized feline inhabiting most of Africa and parts of the Middle East. The cheetah is the only extant member of the genus Acinonyx, most notable for modifications in the species' paws...
s, and pumas. Lion taming is used as a stereotypical dangerous occupation due to the obvious risks of toying with powerful instinctive carnivore
Carnivore
A carnivore meaning 'meat eater' is an organism that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of animal tissue, whether through predation or scavenging...
s.
Lion taming is performed in zoos across the world, to enable less dangerous feeding and to bring more profit by holding programmes like cub petting.
In recent years the "taming" of wild animals for performance purposes has drawn accusations of cruelty. .
Note that taming an individual lion is not the same as domestication
Domestication
Domestication or taming is the process whereby a population of animals or plants, through a process of selection, becomes accustomed to human provision and control. In the Convention on Biological Diversity a domesticated species is defined as a 'species in which the evolutionary process has been...
of a species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
.
Lion tamers
- George WombwellGeorge WombwellGeorge Wombwell, , was a famous menagerie exhibitor in the Victorian Britain. He founded Wombwell's Travelling Menagerie.-Life and work:...
(1777-1850), founder of Wombwell's Travelling Menagerie, raised many animals himself including the first lion to be bred in captivity in Britain. He was buried in Highgate CemeteryHighgate CemeteryHighgate Cemetery is a cemetery located in north London, England. It is designated Grade I on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England. It is divided into two parts, named the East and West cemetery....
, under a statue of his lion Nero. - Thomas Beckerson was an English botanist who studied in Africa but was fascinated by the lions there and brought back his lion taming skills to Victorian London.
- Carl HagenbeckCarl HagenbeckCarl Hagenbeck was a merchant of wild animals who supplied many European zoos, as well as P.T. Barnum. He is often considered the father of the modern zoo because he introduced "natural" animal enclosures that included recreations of animals' native habitats without bars...
(1844–1913) was a merchant of wild animals. - Rose Flanders Bascom was an American female lion tamer in the early 1900s. She was born in 1880 in the village of ContoocookContoocook, New HampshireContoocook is a village and census-designated place within the town of Hopkinton in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,444 at the 2010 census.-History:...
within the town of Hopkinton, New HampshireHopkinton, New HampshireHopkinton is a town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 5,589 at the 2010 census. It consists of three villages: Hopkinton, West Hopkinton, and Contoocook...
. In 1898 she married Alfred Bascom who was of French Canadian ancestry but born in the United States. About 1905, Rose joined the circus life and became a lion tamer. It is reported that she was clawed by a lion resulting in an infection that led to her untimely death around the year of 1915, leaving her husband Alfred and their young daughter Agnes. - Alfred Court (1883-1977), animal trainer for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is an American circus company. The company was started when the circus created by James Anthony Bailey and P. T. Barnum was merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus. The Ringling brothers purchased the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1907, but ran the circuses...
in the 1940s. - Mabel StarkMabel StarkMabel Stark, whose real name was Mary Haynie was a renowned tiger trainer of the 1920s and she was referred to as the world's first woman tiger trainer/tamer.- Biography :...
(1889-1968) - Jules Jacot (1890-1971) was the lion tamer at the St. Louis Zoo from the 1940s through the 1970s. He worked up until the year before his death at the age of 81.
- Professor George Keller (1897-1960)
- Clyde BeattyClyde BeattyClyde Beatty joined the circus as a cage cleaner as a teen and became famous as a lion tamer and animal trainer. He also became a circus impresario who owned his own show that later merged with the Cole Bros. Circus to form the Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros...
(1903-1965) was among the pioneers to use a chair in training big cats. - Charly Baumann (1928-2001), animal trainer for the Blue Unit with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is an American circus company. The company was started when the circus created by James Anthony Bailey and P. T. Barnum was merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus. The Ringling brothers purchased the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1907, but ran the circuses...
. - Gunther Gebel-WilliamsGunther Gebel-WilliamsGunther Gebel-Williams was an animal trainer for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus from 1968-1990.-Early life:...
(1934-2001) was a world-famous animal trainerAnimal trainingAnimal training refers to teaching animals specific responses to specific conditions or stimuli. Training may be for the purpose of companionship, detection, protection, entertainment or all of the above....
for the Red Unit with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is an American circus company. The company was started when the circus created by James Anthony Bailey and P. T. Barnum was merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus. The Ringling brothers purchased the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1907, but ran the circuses...
. - Martin LaceyMartin LaceyMartin Lacey is a circus ringmaster, company director and trainer of wild animals. He trained most of the tigers that were used in the Esso television advertisements in the 1970s-Professional life:...
, (born 1947), animal trainer, owner of the Great British CircusGreat British CircusGreat British Circus Ltd is a company that specialises in circus entertainment. Unusually for a UK-based circus company it includes live animals such as tigers, camels horses and ponies in its acts.-Use of wild animals:...
, trained most of the tigers used in the ESSOESSOESSO may refer to:*Esso, a brand name of products marketed by Exxon Mobil*Enterprise single sign-on*Estonian State Symphony Orchestra or Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, an orchestra in Tallinn, Estonia, also known as ERSO *Esso , a rural locality in Bystrinsky District of...
TV advertisements in the 1970s. - Susan Lacey, wife of Martin Lacey, also animal trainer who performed with tigers.
- Martin Lacey, Jr.Martin Lacey, Jr.Martin Lacey, Jr. is an award-winning English circus performer and trainer of wild animals who has achieved fame in Germany. He is the son of Martin Lacey, the circus ringmaster and animal trainer who bred most of the tigers used in the Esso television advertisements in the 1970s.-Professional...
, (born 1977), son of MartinMartin LaceyMartin Lacey is a circus ringmaster, company director and trainer of wild animals. He trained most of the tigers that were used in the Esso television advertisements in the 1970s-Professional life:...
, an animal trainer and performer with Circus KroneCircus KroneCircus Krone, based in Munich, is the largest circus in Europe and the only one in Western Europe to also occupy a building.-History:It was originally founded in 1905 by Carl Krone as an animal exhibition. Later the circus was run by his daughter Frieda Sembach-Krone and her husband Carl...
in MunichMunichMunich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
. - Alex Lacey, also son of MartinMartin LaceyMartin Lacey is a circus ringmaster, company director and trainer of wild animals. He trained most of the tigers that were used in the Esso television advertisements in the 1970s-Professional life:...
, animal trainer and performer. - Irina BugrimovaIrina BugrimovaIrina Bugrimova was the first female lion tamer in the Soviet Union. Called a "circus legend" by sources such as the BBC, Bugrimova was the first woman in Russia and the then-Soviet Union to work with lions, tigers, and ligers in a variety of performing acts, and trained more than 70 big cats...
(1911-2001), the first female lion tamer in Russia - (in fiction) "Ronder, of course, was a household word. He was the rival of Wombwell": Sherlock HolmesSherlock HolmesSherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
: The Adventure of the Veiled LodgerThe Adventure of the Veiled Lodger"The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes.-Synopsis:...