Adult male lion with dark brown coat in dry savanna landscape, late summer or early autumn day with mid-morning to afternoon sunlight 16:33
The Lion Whisperer channel icon The Lion WhispererOriginal creator 630K views Save

Right on cue, Gabby the lioness pounces

It is a cold morning, and Kevin Richardson can guess what Gabby the lioness has in mind. "Quite frankly, I'm not really in the mood to be jumped on today," he says. more

Gabby and Bobcat, a big male lion, are about to move to a new enclosure. They live next to Thor's group of six lions, and the older lions aren't always fond of the young pair. So before the move, Kevin takes them out to the big area to stretch their legs and work off some energy.

Getting them into the truck is easy. Kevin calls them two of the easiest lions in the park to move. The cold is the real trouble, because chilly mornings fill Gabby with energy. She is "pretty full of beans" from the start, and he's surprised she hasn't jumped on him yet.

She doesn't wait long. Gabby knocks him over, and Kevin admits, "So the prediction of Gabby jumping on me was pretty accurate." "Gabby, you're a crazy cat," he tells her. Bobcat gets his share of her games too, which leaves Kevin asking, "Why would you do that to Bobcat?"

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There's no escaping Gabby when she's in a playful mood.

So far the morning has been mostly about Gabby, Kevin says, so he lets Bobcat lead. Bobcat has no use for roads. He takes Kevin straight through the bush, and a walk with these two, Kevin says, runs to 13,000 or 14,000 steps.

In the wild, two male lions would patrol together and bump heads now and then, as if to say, "Hey dude, I've got your back." Bobcat slips through the thorn bush as if it were nothing, though for a "little bipedal human," Kevin notes, it's a bit more tricky. The moment fans love most comes when Kevin bends to kiss Bobcat, and the big lion rises up to hug him instead.

Adult male lion with dark brown coat in dry savanna landscape, late summer or early autumn day with mid-morning to afternoon sunlight. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
It is a cold morning, and Kevin Richardson can guess what Gabby the lioness has in mind.

They cross a dry riverbed, the kind lions like because it's soft on the feet and lets them keep a low profile. Then Bobcat finds the hyenas. With a fence between them, he runs up and down to rile them, and the hyenas give it right back. Kevin calls it enrichment for everyone, and Bobcat seems to be telling the hyenas they are lucky he is on this side of the fence.

When the truck comes, Bobcat is tired, and Kevin promises him some food. While they wait for Gabby, Bobcat heads off for one more go, and then they drive up to find her. "Never ever a dull moment with Gabby," Kevin says.