Queen Elizabeth II had a chance to get up close and personal with resident lionesses Rubi and Heidi at the official opening of Land of the Lions – London Zoo’s new interactive lion enclosure – last week. The new £2.5 million Asiatic lion exhibit recreates the setting of Sasan Gir in Gujarat, India – the last remaining stronghold of Asiatic lions, of which only about 500 remain in the wild – and has, at its centre, a 360 degree ‘Temple Clearing’ where the lions can be viewed from just a few metres away. The exhibit, which spreads over 2,500 square metres, opens to the public this Friday, 25th March. For more, see www.zsl.org.