But will they ask the neighbours to feed them when they go on holiday?
A couple who live in the picturesque English village of Strelley have been granted permission to keep lions in their back garden.
'Animal lover Reece Oliver, 28, has won planning permission for a 400 square metre enclosure to house Rocky and Rora, two seven-month-old African lions, much to the chagrin of his neighbours who said the animals could be a danger to members of the public,' reports the Daily Telegraph.
Mr Oliver and his girlfriend Annie Hughes apparently rescued the lions from a Czech circus and have been keeping them for months, without the correct permission.
'It's the best feeling in the world, it's the best result ever,' said Mr Oliver, a licensed big cat keeper who already owns a puma, after hearing that he'd won his case.
'I love those animals, they're like children to me. It would have been like taking my children off me.'
The 160,000-year-old cave man whose jawbone could 'unlock the whole of the human tree'
The discovery of a human jawbone containing identifiable proteins could shed new light on the early history of Man, according to Nature. An unfortunate early human called a 'Denisovan', who died in a Tibetan cave 160,000 years ago, has revealed all sorts of things to scientists studying the new field of palaeoproteomics.
'I think that you can basically unlock the whole of the human tree,' Matthew Collins, a bioarchaeologist at the University of Copenhagen, told Nature.
On This Day: The coronation of Queen Victoria
It's exactly 181 years since Queen Victoria was crowned at Westminster Abbey, on 28 June 1838. She was just 18 at the time.
Read AN Wilson's appreciation of Queen Victoria (Country Life)
Puffin populations hit by June's rainy start
It might be warm now, but the appalling weather at the start of June is still being felt - not least by sea birds on the Farne Islands, off Northumberland. Torrential rain apparently proved fatal for chicks on these remote dots on the map. 'Arctic terns, puffins, guillemots and shags, all suffered losses,' reports The Guardian. Some 300 pufflings - baby puffins - were apparently lost, according to the National Trust, as their nests were flooded by 5in of rain in 24 hours on 13 June.
Stat of the Day
4 out of 5
The number of councils in Britain that fail to recycle everything they ought to be doing under government targets which were supposed to have been hit by 2020. 74 out of 345 provide a 'complete' service, but the number at the other end of the scale are sobering: a quarter have no plastic recycling facilities, while one in 10 doesn't even collect glass. Given how cash-strapped most councils are these days, perhaps the real surprise is that things aren't worse.
Britain's oldest yew trees are nothing like as old as we thought (but they're still really, really old)
Britain's most ancient yew trees may be rather less ancient than previously thought. A new system for ageing the trees - one which uses 'a combination of tree girth, ring creation and historic rates of growth' according to The Times's report - suggests that several trees which were thought to be 4,000 or 5,000 years old are actually relative saplings of 'only' a couple of thousand years old.
'The Fortingall yew in a churchyard in Perthshire would still be the oldest in Britain under this method but it would be about 2,000 years old and not the oft-stated 5,000 years old,' the report continues.
'Similarly, the Ankerwycke yew at Runnymede in Surrey is now believed to be more Norman than Roman, first sprouting 900 years ago rather than 2,500 years ago.'
Full story (The Times - subscription required)
A long time coming...
The Royal Company of Edinburgh Golfers, better known to the world as Muirfield Golf Club, will officially welcome its first 12 female members on July 1. (Unless they get blackballed between now and Monday.)
If all else fails with saving Earth, NASA is working on Plan B: Let's all move to Titan
Mars is too cold. Venus is too hot. But Saturn's moons, and in particular Titan, have long been thought to be more potentially suitable for sustaining life.
NASA announced on Thursday evening that they are sending a ship to Titan - Saturn's biggest moon, a place described by the agency as an 'ocean world in our solar system'. The Dragonfly mission will launch in 2026 and return to Earth in 2034 after scouting a number of locations with a view to potential human settlement.
And finally... Britain's oldest dog, still chasing the girls aged 143
Meet Britain's oldest dogs who prove that life begins at 100 https://t.co/Phyp3gQ9B2 pic.twitter.com/dyHer9CHDeMeet Britain's oldest dogs who prove that life begins at 100 https://t.co/Phyp3gQ9B2 pic.twitter.com/dyHer9CHDe— Daily Mirror (@DailyMirror) 26 June 201926 June 2019
A Jack Russell named Boycie - who is 21 in human years, or 143 in dog years - is now the nation's oldest dog, following the sad death of 23-year-old Charlie late last year, according to the Daily Mirror.
Boycie sounds like a bit of a scamp: 'Out on walks, old Boycie makes a beeline for the younger girl dogs. He just won’t give up,' says owner Jo Titchener, who has had him for the last 15 years.
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How to make a gloomy city garden into a haven of colour and natureTiffany Daneff discovers how to transform a typically dark London back garden into a light-filled green haven that is always in use. Photographs by Clive Nichols.
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The world's hairiest animal, Saturday Night Fever and winning the lottery twice: Country Life Quiz of the Day 21 February 2025Have a stab at our Quiz of the Day. Good luck!
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The brilliant tractor tribute to the NHS from a group of Warwickshire farmersPeople around Britain have been paying tribute to the efforts of our NHS workers at the time of the coronavirus pandemic — but few have been as creative and clever as this one.
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London's iconic red bus at risk and 6,000 year old chewing gum gives clues into our DNA historyCuts to industry subsidies and an increase in fares has left bus use at its lowest point ever, while DNA extracted from ancient 'chewing gum' allows scientists to decipher the genetic code of a Stone Age woman.
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90-million-year-old 'swimming dinosaur' skeleton found by dogs out walking in Somerset, and the nonchalant moths who don't bother fleeing enemiesA superbly intact dinosaur skeleton — described as being 'museum quality' — has been discovered on a beach in Somerset.
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Battle to ban 4x4s from the idyllic Lake District spot bequeathed by Beatrix Potter, eagle fights octopus and the 'snail's pace' climate talksThis morning we look at Little Langdale's fight for peace, reflect on the climate change talks in Madrid and discover the soundtrack for Brexit.
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Country Life Today: How Greta Thunberg shifted the dial on climate change — and the backlash shows just how muchThis morning we ponder whether Greta Thunberg is the Joan of Arc for the environmental movement, look at a key election — one from 19 years ago — and ponder the marvel of 'dad tidying'.
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Country Life Today: Great news for those who love our great country pubs — the years of decline are overThere is a great sign of health in the pub industry, we look back at Edward VIII's abdication message and fret about Greenland's melting ice.
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Country Life Today: Spain accused of being 'a deplorable choice' for UN climate conferenceA no-holds-barred assault on the Spanish fishing industry, Banksy raising awareness of the homeless and the woes of the Christmas jumper are in today's news round-up.
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Country Life Today: 'This is perhaps the ultimate wake-up call from the uncontrolled experiment humanity is unleashing on the world’s oceans'In today's round up, we examine why oxygen loss is putting oceans at risk, discover that action to cut air pollution brings almost immediate benefits to human health and find out which bird's arrival marks the start of winter in Gloucestershire.
