New Pride at Philly Zoo
September 09, 2014
The Philadelphia Zoo recently celebrated the public debut of some amazing new residents: Four African Lion cubs!
Photo Credits: Philadelphia Zoo
Two of the cubs were born on June 25th, and the other two were born the next day on the 26th. The proud mother is four-year-old Tajiri, and their father is five-year-old Makini. They are the first lion cubs born at the Philadelphia Zoo since 1996, and the quad makes their home at the zoo’s First Niagara Big Cat Falls.
Keepers have tried to keep first time mom, Tajiri, as comfortable as possible and allow her as much space as she desires with her new family. It will be a little while longer before keepers are allowed to get close enough to the cubs to determine their sexes. However, the cubs have been given names. The Philadelphia Zoo conducted a contest, through social media, and the public was able to cast votes for their favorite names for the cubs. Mali, Kataba, Sabi, and Msinga are already known to be as unique as their new monikers. Kataba has marks on both front feet, Mali has no dye marks, Msinga has a lighter mark on the left front foot, and Sabi has a mark on the left hind foot.
See more, learn more, below the fold.
The African Lion is classified as “Vulnerable” on the IUCN Red List. Main threats to lions include: killing to protect livestock and depletion of their prey. Habitat loss and conversion for agriculture have also led to a decline in some population sizes.
The Philadelphia Zoo works in partnership with the Ongava Research Centre (ORC), part of one of the largest private nature reserves in Namibia, Africa. Their research projects closely monitor the activities of lions in the wild, specifically, how lions form groups and how those groups expand and disperse.