Don't be so rough with the kids - Lioness gives an earfull

He's supposed to be the king of the jungle, but these pictures clearly show who's in charge. The male lion cowers his head as he is given an earful by a lioness after a playfight went too far. The father had pinned his daughter Lusaka to the ground in mock anger after the playful cub had repeatedly nipped his tail. But the pair's fun came to a dramatic halt after the mother arrived and bared her teeth in fury at the male. The remarkable images were recorded by amateur photographer Jennifer Lockridge, who took them at the National Zoo in Washington DC.
Luke, the male lion, had been pretending not to notice his offspring's attentions, before joining in a playfight. Ms Lockridge, 42, said the spotted the drama during a visit to the zoo last month.
She said: 'I thoroughly enjoyed watching this interaction and Luke has just recently been allowed to interact with his cubs. The zoo has a lion pride consisting of seven cubs from two mothers and Luke is the father of all the cubs.
'The particular cub, Lusaka, is particularly feisty and is always one of the last ones to go inside when called. Lusaka is definitely a "daddy's girl" and seems to be the most enamoured with her father.'
She said the way five-month-old Lusaka and her father played together reminded her of human parents and their children.
'As the cubs have gotten braver, they approach Luke easily wanting to engage him in play.
'I don't believe he realised she was biting his tail and he didn't seem to be very upset. Lusaka has a habit of biting the tails of her siblings as well as the adults.'
 

Source: mailonline