The largest hill figure in Britain — a reclining lion cut across Bison Hill in 1933 to mark the zoo below.
Designed by R.B. Brook-Greaves and unveiled in 1933, the Whipsnade lion is the largest hill figure in Britain, around 150 metres from nose to tail. It marked the new zoo at the foot of Dunstable Downs and doubled as a warning to low-flying pilots to keep clear of the animals; in the Second World War it was camouflaged against enemy aircraft. Filled in solid rather than outlined, it reads as a lion even from far off. You get side-on views from the B4540 below, and the clearest distant one from Ivinghoe Beacon across the vale. It lies on the Chilterns scarp above Whipsnade.
