How Good Is A Lion's Memory?

Over thirty nine years ago, two Australians, Anthony Bourke and John Rendall, walked into the Harrods department store in London, and bought (rescued from a small cage) a lion cub who they named Christian. They raised Christian in the basement of a custom furniture store in central London.

 However, It wasn't long before Christian grew from a cute cuddly 35lbs, to a full grown lion weighing in at 185lbs. Anthony and John werenﾒt worried about Christian biting anyone; he was wonderful with humans.  The problem was that he was so large he could break a window just by leaning on it.  They knew that they couldnﾒt keep Christian in London forever.

They decided to take Christian back to his native habitat in Kenya. They entrusted him with a known naturalist and animal advocate, George Adamson.  When John and Anthony felt confident that Christian had a new family and would make it in the wild, they returned home to London.

They frequently made trips to Kenya and watched Christian from a distance.  After four years they were told that Christian was completely wild, with his own pride, (lion family) and wouldn't remember them. They decided to locate Christian's pride anyway.  After spotting John and Anthony Christian approached them cautiously at first, then leaped into their arms when he realized who they were. It is an amazing story, and if you get a chance please do watch the video on You Tube.  They say an elephant never forgets, well, maybe the same can be said for a lion.