Officials at the Oregon Zoo in Portland, Oregon, were in for a surprise when a pride of lions located a camera hidden in their habitat this month.
“With the help of care staff, we hid a camera in the lion habitat last week. It didn’t stay hidden for long,” the zoo posted to Facebook as it shared the video.
The workers were reportedly hoping to get an “insider’s look” at what the lions experience in their habitat, but staffers got more than what they expected.
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A pride of lions at the Oregon Zoo in Portland, Oregon, found a camera hidden in their habitat. (Oregon Zoo via Storyful)
In the video, several lions are seen dropping to the ground to rest when, all of a sudden, a paw enters the screen, followed by the face of another lion.
The lion moves the camera until it is seen looking straight at the lens.
The clips that follow show the face of a male lion, the camera being carried off, and once stopped, a lion stares into the lens with what appears to be great curiosity.
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A pride of lions at the Oregon Zoo in Portland, Oregon, found a camera hidden in their habitat. (Oregon Zoo via Storyful)
The final clip shows the inside of a lion’s mouth as it yawns.
“These behaviors are things that our caregivers see every day, but never from quite this perspective,” the Oregon Zoo’s Africa area curator, Kelly Gomez, said in a statement to Fox TV Stations.
According to the zoo’s website, the lions on the property live in the “Predators of the Serengeti” exhibit. Each of the lions participates in the zoo’s new lion breeding program, which is part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Species Survival Plan for African lions.
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A pride of lions at the Oregon Zoo in Portland, Oregon, found a camera hidden in their habitat. (Oregon Zoo via Storyful)
The program aims to support socially stable groups of lions while maintaining a genetically diverse and sustainable lion population.
“As recently as 25 years ago, lions were common throughout much of East Africa,” Gomez said in the statement. “But populations have been dwindling, and fewer than 25,000 wild lions are now thought to remain.”
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The Oregon Zoo did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
