Lions: An Animal Rescue Story

Today we’re visiting a very special animal named Timara at World Animal Rescue Sanctuary in Colorado. Come learn about the fascinating species lions, hear Timara's story, and how you can help lions right from your very own home. Because here at Animal Rescue Adventures…every animal matters, and every explorer helps.

Transcript

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Hey explorers, welcome to Animal Rescue Adventures, the show where we meet amazing animals and become heroes for them too. I'm Steph, and today we're going on a rescue mission. Today we're visiting a very special animal named Tamara at World Animal Rescue Sanctuary in Colorado. Can you guess what kind of animal she is? That's right, Tamara is a lion. Let's learn a few cool things about lions. Lions are the most social big cat living in groups called prides, usually 10 through 15 individuals. How many people are in your family? The king is a hunter. While males protect the territory, lionesses, or a female lion, do most of the hunting, often working together in teams. Lions are highly energy efficient, sleeping or resting for 18 to 20 hours a day. Do you sleep for 20 hours a day? Probably not, because then you would only be awake for four hours. A lion's roar is the loudest of all big cats and can be heard up to five miles away. Let me hear your best roar. Ready, set, go. Wow, that was a good roar. Lions are nocturnal hunters. Their eyes are adapted to darkness, making their night vision six times better than humans. Most lions live in grasslands and savanna plains, not jungles. Less than 20,000 lions remain in the wild, largely due to habitat loss and conflict. While most live in Sub-Saharan Africa, a tiny population of Asiatic lions exist in India's Ghara Forest. Have you ever visited Asia? Lions can hunt Nile crocodiles in the wild. But Tamara didn't always start her life in Africa or India. She started her journey in Ohio. Tamara is a female white tiger that was rescued from a roadside zoo in Ohio that failed to care for their animals. With freezing temperatures, no heat, or adequate shelter, and nutritional deficiencies, Tamara's coat of hair failed to shine as brightly as it should, and she was underway. The Wildlife Rescue Sanctuary in Colorado dedicated a rescue team to build Tamara a nice environment to live in and to feed her healthy and adequate amounts of food so that she gained weight until she became fully healthy and happy. So then what happened? She got a wonderful habitat that she now lives and runs around in at a designated area at the sanctuary. She fully gained the weight she needed to become healthy and balanced. Because of the time she spent being born and raised with humans at the zoo, she can no longer be released into the wild because she never developed the survival skills for her living on her own. Trivia time True or False, you can hear a lion's roar up to five miles away. True, they're the loudest of the big cats. True or for false. Most lions live in the jungle. False. They live in the grasslands and savannah plains. What is a family pack of lions called? A pride. How many hours do lions sleep a day? Eighteen to twenty hours. That's most of the day. All right, explorers, here's your mission today. You can help lions like Tamara by participating or supporting programs that educate communities about coexisting with lions. Sign pledges to never support hunting or unethical tourism of lions, such as cub petting or lion walking experiences. You can raise money for solar-powered lights that help farmers in Africa protect their livestock from lions, which prevents retaliatory killings. This campaign is called Lion Lights. If you ever do get to visit Africa, choose safari operators that focus on conservation and community benefits. Create lion art, write stories, or perform plays to remind people about the importance of saving these animals. Every small action makes a big difference. Our adventure ends today with our new friend Tamara. Let's promise to do our part to protect animals in our planet. Because here at Animal Rescue Adventures, every animal matters and every explorer helps. And for the parents listening, remember to sign up for our Animal Rescue Adventures Club at www.supportanimal rescue adventures.com. That's support animal rescue adventures.