Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adYbFQFXG0U
Christian The Lion - A True Story.
Christian was separated from his parents at an early age and put up for sale in a London department store. Christian's parents were zoo lions, the father came from the Rotterdam zoo and the mother from Jerusalem, and they lived at the Ilfracombe zoo. When they had cubs, the zoo sold them, and two cubs went to the department store.
Two men, Anthony Bourke and John Rendall, found him there and immediately fell in love with him and determined to buy him. They scraped together the money and brought the little lion home when he was only a few weeks old. They named him Christian.
Tony and John dedicated themselves to giving Christian the best life they could, and the bond that developed between them is a joy to behold. Christian was a remarkable lion, obviously very intelligent and loving, and gentle to everyone, both human and animal.
As he grew, Christian began to need bigger facilities than Tony and John could provide. Thanks to a chance meeting with Bill Travers (who had starred in the movie Born Free), they hit upon the idea of sending Christian to Africa to live as a wild lion.
Bill Travers contacted George Adamson to set up the project, and came up with the idea of making a documentary movie of it all, to fund the project. Christian is an absolute joy to watch in this movie. The love he shows, his intelligence, his joie de vie, are beautiful. All the color pictures here are from the movie.
The first step when Christian arrived at George's compound, was to introduce him to Boy, a lion who had been in the movie Born Free and who George had already sent "back" to the wild, without losing his relationship with him.
Christian and Boy eventually became best friends, and within a year Christian was living as a wild lion.
When that year had passed, Tony and John came to Africa to see Christian. After a year of struggle, tragedies, and life with a pride of lions in the wild, the relationship Christian felt with Tony and John was as strong as it had always been. In fact, Christian's wonderful relationship with Tony and John caused the other lions in the pride to accept and be at peace with them as well.
A bridge existed, and it withstood the separation and the learning of a new way to live. Christian was another lion of two worlds. Ace and John saw Christian again, the last time was in 1974 when Christian was twice as large as he was in the movie, and had cubs of his own.
Adapted from: http://www.kimbawlion.com/christian.htm
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I was really touched when i first watched this video. It enlightened me about the communication and bonds that can develop between human and all living creatures. Besides domestic pets such as dogs and cats, animals from the wild are also able to convey their affection to humans through various non-verbal cues.
The fact that Christian the lion still remember his owners after living in the wild for several years, showed that animals too, have humanistic qualities (love, friendship, gratefulness, etc.).
This incredible development of relationship speaks of love, having no boundaries, stretching beyond mere human beings.
Unlike humans, i feel that animals are way more affectionate creatures and often display their true emotions. Human beings on the other hand, often put on a facade before others.
"...we are not much different in fact to many other forms of animal life;and it is because of subtle human conditioning-- not the actual facts --that we are raised to believe there is a wide gap between what is human and what is animal."
--Gareth Patterson, Last of the Free (1994)
7 comments:
It's quite interesting to see how humans can interact with animals although we do not speak animal language. I guess, one really needs to have a love for animals in order to interact with them.
Moreover, animals can also have relationships with one another, although they may vary in different ways.
That why people always say "Dogs are men's best friends" Of course, not only dogs, animals do have feelings. After watching this clip, it really touch my heart to see how the lion, Christian do actually remember their owners after living in the wild for a year. This is a good example to watch and learn how friendship can be build and bond. Humans are more complex creatures as many factors are involved. In fact, I prefered to be an animal than a human. Animals are simple minded and seek love and affection only. If only humans be very simple minded and be loving towards others...
Love is a key tool for everything you do.
Since the lion cannot speak human language, non-verbal communication is they key here. It is interesting to see that other animals in the animal kingdom can actually understand human nonverbal cues and develop bonds with them. It clearly shows that nonverbal communication is weights much more than verbal communication.
I personally believe that animals can undrstand non verbal cues to some extent.
This is the only way that humans and animals can communicate.
This shows that the barriar between animals and humans is not really that wide with the usage of non verbal cues.
Its very touching. Really.
Some humans are not able to grasp the signifiance of 'remembering your roots'. Yet, Christian The Lion is able to do so! Three cheers!
and I agree with you that, in this case, the non-verbal communication that was seen between Christian and his 'parents' was strong. Who would have expected a beast to have recognise his own roots?
yijing
Wow i'm really touched. i have never realized that such a strong bond could be formed esp. between a human and lion, well dogs and other domestic animals i have seen but not a lion. It's truly amamzing.
The lion and the humans would have to use non-verbal ssues to undersatnd each other and this i believ would have what ofrged the bond between them.
Aww~~So sweet!
The bond based on non-verbal cues between Christian the Lion and the humans are really amazing!
=)
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