Belfast Zoo is home to a pride of Barbary lions once native to North Africa, but are now extinct in the wild. The last ...

Barbary lions were widely revered for their impressive size and dark-haired manes. They were kept by royal families in northern Africa, but the Romans also loved them just as much.

Barbary lions, also referred to as Atlas lions, are the largest lion subspecies, known to populate large portions of North Africa. Zoo keepers noticed that Samson, who lived in the Hai-Kef zoo ...