21 thoughts on “Nice work if you can get it”

  2. The video was probably shot in the Timbavati Game Reserve in South Africa, well-known for its white lions. And it is not unusual for lions to be tamed to this extent, but it is usually frowned on by Wild Life boffins because it detracts from the lion’s natural way of life. But I suppose it is good for tourism!

  4. I can’t believe that guy is lying in the red dirt like that in tan shorts and a white shirt! Can’t do his own laundry, I’ll tell you that! What an idiot!

  5. I may be wrong but that could be Kevin Richardson – there’s a South African zoologist of that name famous (he’s become known as the Lion Whisperer, inevitably) for playing with big cats as though they’re domestic moggies. Guy really knows what he’s doing, though.

  6. My cat, who is a dead ringer for Basement Cat but as far as I can tell, non practicing, insists on being petted on the head. If you don’t do it right, he bites.

    These lions seem less picky. The most likely scientific reason is that in their coloring they resemble Ceiling Cat.

  7. Those’re young cats — note the spots and the less-than-fully-developed mane on one of the clearly-male cats.

    The first, panting, set of lions…I’d have been out there with a hose, or at least a bucket and a sponge. Might as well help ’em stay cool. It’s gotta be awfully hot to get lions panting so hard.

    And there must be something about the human face that makes it a very desirable feline pillow…those cats did to the guy what Baihu does to me in bed. Baihu also likes it when I put my hand over his face the same way the guy did….

    b&

    1. I’ve read that “cats”** have scent glands on their paw pads, their cheeks & on the top of the head ~ not to mention the two little anal glands on either side of the rectum to mark their stool.

      ** I don’t know if this is true across the entire Felidae family

  8. I fear someday we’ll read about this guy’s untimely demise. He can go on this way for years, but one false step, one big kitty gets into a foul mood one day, and he’s a goner.

    I don’t see how the risk is worth it. I guess I’m a risk avoider; never wanted to go sky diving, and went bungee jumping only once because a really beautiful woman coerced me into it. That ended up being worth the risk.

    I guess it must feel deeply satisfying to tame the wild beast with love and kindness rather than whips and chairs. Hopefully Machiavelli won’t have the last laugh here.

  11. Awesome footage.

    It’s a question I’d love to ask someone like Steven Pinker, why do we as humans risk our lives in indulging in aimless “play” with deadly predators, when we know quite well how dangerous they are. Seems like two internal drives clashing with one another.

  12. I met a lion park employee in South Africa with a scar from a lion who had accidentally grazed his arm with its claw, the way a human might accidentally scratch a playmate with their fingernail. It left an inch-wide scar the length of his forearm. The lion was a year old, hundred/hundred-fifty pound youngster.

  13. This is definitely not Kevin Richardson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Richardson_%28zoologist%29), also known as “Lion Ranger”. I would not be surprised if the guy in the video has worked with or under Richardson, however — I think I’ve seen these lions in one of Richardson’s TV shows. Richardson is extremely careful, and does this sort of thing only with lions he knows extremely well (typically from birth) and who have accepted him “into the pride” so to speak. And even then, he must be expert at reading the body language of the lions, to know when it is safe to get close, as well as to avoid giving the wrong signals.
    For the lions they know well, the biggest risk is that they might play too rough — just like your house cat might scratch your hand if you are not careful.

    Search “lion ranger” on youtube… looks like quite a few full episodes and other clips are there. I highly recommend… if you want to get a sense of both the safety & the danger of what he does. There are also clips on his website, which you can find from his wikipedia page.

    I also recommend googling “Christian the lion” — very touching story (“Christian” is just the lion’s name), as well as the documentaries on the true story behind the movie “Born Free” (google George & Joy Adamson, Elsa, documentary, etc.).

  14. This definitely ain’t in the Timbavati… The Timbavati lions are 100% wild and there are only two white female adults currently in the Timbavati area (with another white cub born last year to a pride separate from the two adult females’ pride).

    Regards from South Africa!

  15. JJ: “I fear someday we’ll read about this guy’s untimely demise”

    The Australian, Steve Irwin, was renouned for getting up close an personal to wildlife. I commented once to my wife that we would one day read of his demise at the hands of one of nature’s creatures. Sure enough, a couple of years later, he was speared through the heart by a stingray.

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