Editing Lion (section)

===In zoos and circuses===
{{multiple image|align=right|direction=vertical
|image1=Lion - melbourne zoo.jpg|caption1=Lion at [[Melbourne Zoo]]
|image2=Lion tamer (LOC pga.03749).jpg|caption2=19th-century [[etching]] of a lion tamer in a cage with lions and tigers}}
Lions are part of a group of exotic animals that have been central to zoo exhibits since the late 18th century. Although many modern zoos are more selective about their exhibits,<ref name="dc81">[[#Courcy|de Courcy]], pp. 81–82.</ref> there are more than 1,000 African and 100 Asiatic lions in zoos and wildlife parks around the world. They are considered an ambassador species and are kept for tourism, education and conservation purposes.<ref name="WAZA">{{cite web |last1= Dollinger |first1= P. |last2= Geser |first2= S. |title=Lion: In the Zoo (subpage) |work= Visit the Zoo |publisher= WAZA (World Association of Zoos and Aquariums) |url= http://www.waza.org/en/zoo/visit-the-zoo/cats-1254385523/panthera-leo |access-date= 5 April 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110929135611/http://www.waza.org/en/zoo/visit-the-zoo/cats-1254385523/panthera-leo |archive-date= 29 September 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Lions can live over twenty years in captivity; for example, three sibling lions at the [[Honolulu Zoo]] lived to the age of 22 in 2007.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Aguiar|first=E.|date=2007|title=Honolulu zoo's old lion roars no more|newspaper=Honolulu Advertiser|url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Aug/08/ln/hawaii708080394.html|access-date=4 September 2007|archive-date=25 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225033236/http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Aug/08/ln/hawaii708080394.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Lum|first=C.|date=2007|title=Zoo puts end to 2 lions' suffering|newspaper=Honolulu Advertiser|url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2009/Feb/25/ln/hawaii902250384.html|access-date=29 September 2020|archive-date=6 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201106104728/http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2009/Feb/25/ln/hawaii902250384.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The first European "zoos" spread among noble and royal families in the 13th century, and until the 17th century were called [[seraglio]]s. At that time, they came to be called [[menagerie]]s, an extension of the [[cabinet of curiosities]]. They spread from France and Italy during the [[Renaissance]] to the rest of Europe.<ref>[[#Baratay|Baratay & Hardouin-Fugier]], pp. 19–21, 42.</ref> In England, although the seraglio tradition was less developed, lions were [[Tower of London#Menagerie|kept at the Tower of London]] in a seraglio established by [[John of England|King John]] in the 13th century;<ref>[[#Baratay|Baratay & Hardouin-Fugier]], p. 20.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Owen |first=J. |title=Medieval Lion Skulls Reveal Secrets of Tower of London "Zoo"|magazine=National Geographic Magazine |date=2005 |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/11/1103_051103_tower_lions.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051105025912/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/11/1103_051103_tower_lions.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 November 2005| access-date=5 September 2007}}</ref> this was probably stocked with animals from an earlier menagerie started in 1125 by [[Henry I of England|Henry I]] at his hunting lodge in [[Woodstock, Oxfordshire]], where according to [[William of Malmesbury]] lions had been stocked.<ref name=Blunt15>[[#Blunt|Blunt]], p. 15.</ref>

Lions were kept in cramped and squalid conditions at [[London Zoo]] until a larger lion house with roomier cages was built in the 1870s.<ref name=Blunt208>[[#Blunt|Blunt]], p. 208.</ref> Further changes took place in the early 20th century when [[Carl Hagenbeck]] designed enclosures with concrete "rocks", more open space and a moat instead of bars, more closely resembling a natural habitat. Hagenbeck designed lion enclosures for both [[Melbourne Zoo]] and Sydney's [[Taronga Zoo]]; although his designs were popular, the use of bars and caged enclosures prevailed in many zoos until the 1960s.<ref name=dc69>[[#Courcy|de Courcy]], p. 69.</ref> In the late 20th century, larger, more natural enclosures and the use of wire mesh or laminated glass instead of lowered dens allowed visitors to come closer than ever to the animals; some attractions such as the Cat Forest/Lion Overlook of [[Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden|Oklahoma City Zoological Park]] placed the den on ground level, higher than visitors.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Grisham |first=J. |editor-first=C. E. |editor-last=Bell |title=Lion |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the World's Zoos |volume=2: G–P |year=2001 |publisher=Fitzroy Dearborn |location=Chicago |isbn=978-1-57958-174-9 |pages=733–739}}</ref>

[[Lion taming]] has been part of both established [[circus]]es and individual acts such as [[Siegfried & Roy]]. The practice began in the early 19th century by Frenchman Henri Martin and American [[Isaac A. Van Amburgh|Isaac Van Amburgh]], who both toured widely and whose techniques were copied by a number of followers.<ref name=baratay187/> Martin composed a [[pantomime]] titled ''Les Lions de Mysore'' ("the lions of Mysore"), an idea Amburgh quickly borrowed. These acts eclipsed [[equestrianism]] acts as the central display of circus shows and entered public consciousness in the early 20th century with cinema. In demonstrating the superiority of human over animal, lion taming served a purpose similar to animal fights of previous centuries.<ref name=baratay187>[[#Baratay|Baratay & Hardouin-Fugier]], p. 187.</ref> The ultimate proof of a tamer's dominance and control over a lion is demonstrated by the placing of the tamer's head in the lion's mouth. The now-iconic lion tamer's chair was possibly first used by American [[Clyde Beatty]] (1903–1965).<ref>{{Cite book |first=D. |last=Feldman |author-link=David Feldman (author) |year=1993 |title=How Does Aspirin Find a Headache? |publisher=HarperCollins |location=New York |isbn=978-0-06-016923-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/howdoesaspirinfi00davi}}</ref>