澳洲小獅子家裏蹲 晉升喵科新萌物
At six weeks of age, little Nathan, Mal and their sister who is yet to be named, resemble three kittens purring and napping for the majority of the day.
小獅子南森，馬爾和它們還沒有名字的小妹妹都只有六個星期大，一整天大部分時間裏它們就像三隻小貓咪一樣在呼嚕和打瞌睡。
But by the end of the year, Ben Britton, 37, expects his current African lion roommates to weigh up to 40 kilograms each and no longer fit on his couch.
但37歲的本·布里頓表示，他的這三隻非洲獅小室友的體重今年底可能會長到40公斤以上，到時他的沙發可就再也睡不下它們了。
As the director of Wild Animal Encounters in Western Sydney, Mr Britton has taken on the role of the lions' mother from the day they were born, after their natural mother rejected them.
因爲三個小獅子的媽媽不願照料它們，布里頓作爲西悉尼野生動物邂逅園的主管，從它們出生那一天開始就承擔起了母親的職責。
'They're sleeping around 20-22 hours a day at the moment so they're not very active, they only have short bursts of energy when they're fed which is about four times a day, and then they crash about half an hour after that.'
“它們每天大概要睡20到22個小時，所以說它們其實不大活躍，只有在吃飯的時候才精神一會兒。它們每天吃四頓飯，吃完後就會倒下睡上半個小時。”
'Yeah - they have already worked out how to get on the lounge. They just take a little run and jump.'
“沒錯，它們已經知道怎麼爬到躺椅上了。它們會稍微地跑一跑、跳一跳。”
But as their weight grows by one kilogram a week, it won't be long before the big cats can no longer find a space on the couch.
但隨着它們的體重以一週增一公斤的速度不斷增加，無需多久沙發上就會沒有它們的容身之所了。
Bringing the animals out of their enclosures and into new environments, including his home, is a regularly practiced thing at the Wild Animal Encounters park.
將動物從圍牆中解放出來，讓他們接觸包括布里頓家這樣的新環境是野生動物邂逅園的一個慣例。
'Animals have got so much going on in the wild – food, shelter, predators, prey and so on - when they come into captivity we supply and delete a lot of that and the mental side in captivity is hard to match, so we try to enrich their lives as much as we can which includes investigating new areas,' Mr Britton said.
布里頓說：“動物在野外有很多事可做，找尋食物、棲息地、躲避捕食者、捕食等等。而當它們被圈養起來後，我們雖然爲它們提供了食物、棲息地等等，但同時也限制了它們的很多活動，而且圈養對它們的精神也造成了極大的影響。所以我們希望能夠儘量豐富它們的生活，包括體驗一些新環境。”
