Lion Park

Lion Park is a 2 km² (500 acre) wildlife conservation enclosure in Gauteng province in South Africa for Transvaal lions.

The Lion Park is situated near Lanseria Airport and Fourways within distance of Johannesburg and Pretoria. The park has a large variety of predators and large herbivores indigenous to Africa.

The Lion Park is home to over 80 lions including the rare white lions and many other carnivores such as South African cheetah, Cape wild dog, hyena and spotted hyena, black-backed jackal, and a wide variety of antelope which roam freely in the antelope area.

The antelope area, containing blesbok, gnu, impala, gemsbok, and zebra, is in a separate part away from the lions and other carnivores.

Celebrity visits

The lion park in South Africa has seen many celebrities, especially over the duration of the world cup. Many tourists visited this attraction, including the singer Shakira.

Attack

On June 1, 2015, Katherine Chappell was attacked and killed by a lion at the park. A man who was with her at the time was also attacked and injured, but is expected to survive.

Sea Lion Park

Sea Lion Park was a 16-acre (65,000 m²) amusement park started in 1895 on Coney Island by Paul Boyton. He fenced the property and charged admission, the park becoming the first enclosed and permanent amusement park in North America. Up until the establishment of this park, amusement areas around the country consisted of pay-as-you-go concessions. In 1903, Sea Lion Park was replaced by Luna Park.

History

Paul Boyton achieved international notice with various demonstrations of a rubber suit, which was a life saving device, similar to a type of kayak, for example, by crossing the English Channel. He travelled around the United States with an aquatic circus and in 1894 established an amusement park in Chicago. He then decided to settle in Coney Island and purchased the land behind the Elephant Hotel as a permanent location for his aquatic show featuring 40 sea lions.

Rides and attractions

The most popular attraction, aside from the aquatic show, was a ride called the Water Chute. The attraction, designed by Boyton and Thomas Polk, consisted of flat bottomed boat that slid down a ramp into a pool of water at the bottom. When the boat hit the pool it would skim across the surface of the pool.

Sea lion

Sea lions are sea mammals characterized by external ear flaps, long foreflippers, the ability to walk on all fours, and short, thick hair. Together with the fur seals, they comprise the family Otariidae, eared seals, which contains six extant and one extinct species (the Japanese sea lion) in five genera. Their range extends from the subarctic to tropical waters of the global ocean in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, with the notable exception of the northern Atlantic Ocean. They have an average lifespan of 20–30 years. A male California sea lion weighs on average about 300 kg (660 lb) and is about 8 ft (2.4 m) long, while the female sea lion weighs 100 kg (220 lb) and is 6 ft (1.8 m) long. The largest sea lion is Steller's sea lion, which can weigh 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) and grow to a length of 10 ft (3.0 m). Sea lions consume large quantities of food at a time and are known to eat about 5–8% of their body weight (about 15–35 lb (6.8–15.9 kg)) at a single feeding.

Taxonomy

Sea-lion

In heraldry, the term sea-lion (sometimes called a morse) refers to a legendary creature that has the head and upper body of a lion, but with webbed forelimbs and a fish tail. These occur most frequently as supporters, but also occur as crests and occasionally as charges. Sea-lions are frequently found in "sejant" or "sejant-erect" (sitting upright) attitudes, but may also be found "naiant" (horizontally, as if swimming) or "assurgeant" (issuing from the waves of the sea).

In the Philippines

The sea-lion is prominent in the heraldic tradition of the Philippines, where it features on the coats of arms of the capital, the primatial see, the seal of the navy, the presidential seal, the seals of the Department of Finance, the Department of Education and other various government offices. It can also be found on the medal of the Philippine Legion of Honor. The heraldic device comes from Manila's colonial arms, where the sea-lion represents the islands as an ultramar (overseas) possession of Spain; the lion is ultimately derived from the arms of Castile and León.

Sea lion (disambiguation)

A sea lion is an aquatic mammal generally found in shallow waters.

Sea Lion, Sealion, Sea-lion, or Sea Lions may also refer to:

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