澳洲小狮子家里蹲 晋升喵科新萌物

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.

小狮子南森，马尔和它们还没有名字的小妹妹都只有六个星期大，一整天大部分时间里它们就像三只小猫咪一样在呼噜和打瞌睡。

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岁的本·布里顿表示，他的这三只非洲狮小室友的体重今年底可能会长到40公斤以上，到时他的沙发可就再也睡不下它们了。

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.

因为三个小狮子的妈妈不愿照料它们，布里顿作为西悉尼野生动物邂逅园的主管，从它们出生那一天开始就承担起了母亲的职责。

'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.'

“它们每天大概要睡20到22个小时，所以说它们其实不大活跃，只有在吃饭的时候才精神一会儿。它们每天吃四顿饭，吃完后就会倒下睡上半个小时。”

'Yeah - they have already worked out how to get on the lounge. They just take a little run and jump.'

“没错，它们已经知道怎么爬到躺椅上了。它们会稍微地跑一跑、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.

但随着它们的体重以一周增一公斤的速度不断增加，无需多久沙发上就会没有它们的容身之所了。

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.

将动物从围墙中解放出来，让他们接触包括布里顿家这样的新环境是野生动物邂逅园的一个惯例。

'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.

布里顿说：“动物在野外有很多事可做，找寻食物、栖息地、躲避捕食者、捕食等等。而当它们被圈养起来后，我们虽然为它们提供了食物、栖息地等等，但同时也限制了它们的很多活动，而且圈养对它们的精神也造成了极大的影响。所以我们希望能够尽量丰富它们的生活，包括体验一些新环境。”