Animal of the Day: Lioness Really Wants to Play With or Eat Baby

A thick pane of glass is all that stands between this female lion and lunch.

Zari, a 7-year-old African lioness at the El Paso Zoo, was captured on video "playing' with this kid back in December.

She is either really fascinated by children, or she really wants to eat them.

The zoo says the animals are just curious, and that the glass is definitely strong enough to protect anyone from harm, so there isn't anything to worry about here.

"When some of our lions see little kids, it seems like it calls attention to them and they want to check them out," a zoo spokesperson told TODAY.com. "She was just trying to play, and the baby was so close. The baby is safe behind a really thick window, which is made so that visitors can see the animals up close."

But lion expert Craig Packer told The Daily Mail that the beasts like to play with babies before eating them.

"Predators generally treat calves/fawns/babies differently from adults because they are such easy prey; there's no real chance of escape, so what's the hurry?" he said.

Yup, she just wants to check him out… with her teeth.