Abstract
A lion with a crown on his head stood in a low Roman-style chariot pulled along by two tightly harnessed tigers, with two dogs as footmen at the rear; this tableau was part of an act presented by the Hagenbeck family business between 1893 and 1902 (Joys 1983: 24 photograph; Rothfels 2002: 154 photograph). It took up to 18 months to train the lion to enact this human-like posture and the tigers to copy the actions of domesticated animals. Lions might have dominated acts as the most trainable big cats - the animal kings, at least in performance; but this improbable scenario with animals displayed the skill of the trainers.
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© 2011 Peta Tait
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Tait, P. (2011). Calm Patience and Pyramid Poses. In: Wild and Dangerous Performances. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230354012_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230354012_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-31961-9
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-35401-2
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