KEVIN RICHARDSON has a remarkable talent when it comes to the king of the jungle.
The Lion Whisperer breaks every known safety rule to swim, sleep and even PLAY FIGHT with the big cats at his wildlife park in South Africa.
Friends say he must have a gift to be able to enjoy such a relationship with his 41 lions without getting killed.
But Kevin, 36, says his gift is knowing when NOT to play with them.
He said: "My talent is being able to read their behaviour and know when not to interract with them.
"If a big adult male is grumpy or looking interested in a female that's not a good time to give him a cuddle.
"That's not when he wants a tickle under the chin."
Kevin, who taught himself about animal behaviour, made that mistake once - and it almost cost him his life.
He says: "When I was early in my career I believed that every lion would accept me because I had formed a pseudo-relationship with one adult male lion.
"I went into his compound one day and he was not happy. He pinned me on my back and proceeded to bite me all over. I was covered in blood.
"Luckily, he was not trying to kill me, just teach me a lesson.
"If he had meant to harm me I would not be here because, if and when a lion wants to kill you, it doesn't take much."
Kevin's love of animals started in early childhood. At three he bred crickets under his bed and had a pet toad.
As he grew up, keeping more wild animals, neighbours in his home town called him "The Bird Man of Orange Grove". Twelve years ago, while working as a physiotherapist, he met a man who was buying a lion park. Kevin got playing with two six-month-old cubs - and discovered his unique gift.
He said: "The relationship grew and grew and people started saying I should make a profession of it."
Now Kevin - along with wife Mandy - combines bringing up son Tyler, 16 months, with running the 1,700-acre Kingdom Of The White Lions park. Just north of Johannesburg, it is home to 41 lions, 20 hyenas and a few leopards.
The animals include several white lions and Tau and Napoleon, the two baby lion brothers he first bonded with, now the park's senior citizens.
Along with the ones he raised from cubs, many of the lions that come to him are bred by Britain's Chipperfields Circus.
These are raised from generations of big cats going back to ones exported from South Africa to European zoos and circuses in the early 1900s.
To pay for the upkeep of the beasts and the park, he hires out his services as a trainer and provides wild animals to film and documentary makers.
His life with the big cats has been filmed for My Lion Family, which is on the Nat Geo Wild channel at 8pm on Wednesday.
Kevin said: "A lot of people say what I do is mad. But having a relationship with the animals, particularly the carnivores, makes their lives much easier.
"It also helps dispel the myth that you must keep lions in chains and beat them with sticks before you can train them.
"I can lie down with the lions or swim in the river with the lionesses.
"There are risks but there are risks in everything you do - like flying airplanes.
"The more experience you have the less chance of a fatal mistake. The biggest killer is complacency.
"I am just a human being who has a relationship with lions like you might have a relationship with your pet dog.
"You must never overstep the mark."
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