Female and male lion cubs

Male lion cub and male Puli dog

Zimba, a male lion cub and Bogi, a male Puli dog, are seen at Gyoengyoes zoo in Hungary. Zimba was donated to the zoo by a private donor in Italy, and will be raised by Bogi.

Asian lioness

An Asian lioness is pictured with one of her two 10 week-old cubs at London Zoo.

African lions

Three small African lions sit in their cage at a zoo in Cairo.

A lion hounds a little fox

A lion hounds a little fox at the zoo in Wuppertal, Germany. The fox got into the lions' enclosure by mistake, and obviously had no fun in playing with the big cats. He managed to escape unhurt.

A young lion cub and her mother

Moxie, a young lion cub and her mother at the Bronx Zoo in New York. Born in November 2008, Moxie was the first lion born at the Bronx Zoo in 31 years.

A sea lion

A sea lion swims near the Palomino islands. The island houses about 8,000 sea lions, making it one of the biggest colonies of these animals on the shores of Peru.

Lions

Lion cub greets pope with a roar in the Vatican

Pope Benedict XVI smiles at a growling lion cub held by an acrobat of the Medrano Circus during the pontiff's general audience, in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican.

A rare white lion

A rare white lion lies with her cubs at the Global White Lion Protection Trust game reserve in the Timbavati region of South Africa.

A lion rides a horse

A lion rides a horse in a circus show in Xiamen in southeast China's Fujian province. The circus shows are being held during a golden week holiday to mark China's National Day, the 59th anniversary of the founding of communist China.

African lion

An African lion named Slavcho yawns in its enclosure at Sofia city zoo.

Female African lion

Naba, a four-year-old female African lion, keeps cool as she licks a 'bloodsicle' made of frozen cow blood.

Lion cub

A lion cub is seen through a hole in its transporting cage at Braila Zoo, 200 km (124 miles) northeast of Bucharest. Nine lion cubs, one male lion and one tiger cub, all born in captivity in Romania, are sent by the animal rights foundation "Vier Pfoten" to the Lions rock wild life park in South Africa.