Naples Zoo Welcomes Trio Of Lion Cubs
There’s some exciting news for animal lovers! One family at Naples Zoo just got a whole lot bigger! The Naples Zoo announced Thursday that it is celebrating the birth of three African lion cubs.
First-time mother, Shani, a 13-year-old African lion, gave birth to one cub on May 13 and two cubs on May 14. It is an exciting time for the zoo because it is the first time the zoo has had lion cubs in more than 30 years.
“We’ve been waiting for these cubs for a long time,” Liz Harmon, director of animal programs, said in a news release.
In order to ensure a happy and healthy environment, cubs and their mother will not be on exhibit until mid-summer. The zoo is planning a naming contest, which is how they named Bakari, the critically endangered Eastern bongo calf born in January.
Moreover, zoo workers have not been able to get close enough to the cubs to know their gender or weights. Instead, the lion cubs are being monitored via a remote camera to make sure they are nursing and receiving the care they need from their mother.
The father of the cubs, Masamba, is 10 and was transferred from the Northeastern Wisconsin Zoo in Green Bay back in 2009 and the mother, Shani, arrived from the Akron Zoo in 2013. Shani had been living with her brother, so she had a number of birth control implants before arriving in Naples, which made it difficult for her to conceive.
In order to reverse the declining lion population and because they are part of the Species Survival Plan, the cubs will be moved to another facility to start their own families when they reach maturity, or around 3 years old.
By: Maytinee Kramer
