A group of curious lions have proven that they are indeed the smartest of the big cats after finding a camera hidden in their enclosure by keepers at Oregon Zoo, Portland.
“With the help of care staff, we hid a special camera in the lion habitat last week. It didn't stay hidden for long!,” reads the YouTube video caption. (Perhaps it was one of the best action cameras?)
The keepers intended for the footage to give YouTube viewers a closer look at how the lions are cared for, their behavior, and habitat.
Instead, the lions take viewers on a specially guided tour of their lives, with a very detailed view of the inside of their mouths.
Giving the full first-lion perspective, with the animals staring right down the lens, taking the camera with them as they explore their habitat, at one point one lion puts its mouth over the camera and yawns.
Scientists and researchers believe that all the evidence points to the fact that lions are the brainiest of all the big cats. The general belief is that, unlike most cats, lions live in prides, they need to figure out how to work together in complex social groups.
The lions at Oregon Zoo are African lions that in the wild live in the open plains, thick brush, and dry forests of sub-Saharan Africa.
Lion numbers in the wild have dropped significantly over the last few years, as they lose their habitats due to deforestation and urban expansion, loss of prey forcing them closer to humans, and trophy hunting.
Each lion at the zoo participates in their new lion breeding program, which is part of the Association of Zoo’s and Aquariums’ Species Survival Plan for African lions. This program aims to increase the number of African lions while supporting socially stable groups and maintaining a diverse and sustainable lion population.
According to Oregon Zoo:
“The zoo's lions live in the Predators of the Serengeti exhibit. They all participate in the Oregon Zoo's new lion breeding program, a part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' Species Survival Plan for African lions.”
"These behaviors are things that our caregivers see every day, but never from quite this perspective," Kelly Gomez, curator of the Oregon Zoo’s Africa area, said in a statement.
"As recently as 25 years ago, lions were common throughout much of East Africa," Gomez said. "But populations have been dwindling, and fewer than 25,000 wild lions are now thought to remain."
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