Beloved Longleat Lioness’ Pawprints add grip to NASA’s Mars Rover

A former queen of the pride at Longleat is being immortalised by inventor Sunil Dhillon who has re-created her paws in tyre form to improve the grip on terrain for Tractors and Mars Rover vehicles.

And already he has interest in his creation from NASA to support exploratory missions on Mars following the study at the Wiltshire estate.

The innovation is revealed as the Safari Park marks the 60th anniversary of becoming the first drive-through safari outside of Africa.

Lioness Malaika died last year just weeks before her 20th birthday but not before she and others in her pride were studied by Sunil to replicate the movement of body and limbs to improve the suspension system.

Sunil, who is based at the University of Warwick and has worked with colleagues at the University of Oxford, Longleat and Gait & Motion Technology Ltd, on the Malaika tyre and vehicle, has been granted a patent.

“We have created prototypes of the biomimetic tyre and the Malaika vehicle prototype is due to be completed by July 2026,” he said, “The Malaika vehicle opens the doorway to create bio-tractor vehicles that will also emulate and replicate the biomechanical structure and movement from other big cats.

“By replicating the movements of Malaika and other lions we are maximising tractive force and weight distribution while minimising soil compaction and damage meaning soil ecology can be protected.

“We know farmers across Europe face extreme changes in their land due to climate change. The tyre features the tread pattern and paw shape of the lion to adapt to different levels of saturation in the land.

“The paws of lions are designed to secure traction on multiple surfaces and that is what we have managed to replicate which will support all arable farmers to increase their productivity, preserve soil health and produce higher crop yield without expanding into protected wildlife conservation areas.”

As well as studying the lions of Longleat, observation data from the Serengeti National Park has shown how African lion can respond to natural environmental fluctuations by the way their limbs and paws are designed to adapt to the physical changes in terrain surfaces.  

Sunil said: “As Lions are incredibly adaptable to fully saturated surfaces, dry compacted clay surfaces, and loose sandy terrain surfaces, and various rocky road surfaces; the Malaika vehicle shall also be considered as a Man-driven rover to traverse across extra-terrestrial terrain surfaces for Martian exploration, whilst acting as a tractor vehicle to preserve soil health on Earth.

“This will allow astronauts to travel and adapt to different Martian terrain surfaces with minimum risks of tractive and durability deterioration when exploring the Martian surface to discover minerals for mining and the possibilities of discovering extra-terrestrial microbial life.

“It is incredibly exciting and I’ve been very privileged to have worked with the keepers at Longleat to study the lions and their movement to be able to replicate it in mechanical form.”

But it’s not just the big cats; the prototype tyre recreates the honeycomb cells created by bees and a spider’s web to ensure the tyre reacts in a flexible way.

Dr Tom Lewis, Conservation and Research Manager at Longleat, said: “We’ve been working with Sunil on his new approach to biomechanics for over a year.

“It’s fascinating to learn about something completely outside our usual research area. Seeing how the project has developed and gone from observing the lions to seeing prototypes is incredible.

“We’re excited to see where Sunil’s vehicles end up. It would be incredible to see a Malaika in space!”

Sunil’s paper The Collaborated Principle of Terra-Biomechanics of the Panthera Leo Species for Synchronous Biomimetic Optimisation and Wildlife Conservation, is due to be published in July 2026.