Friday, June 30, 2017

Lion’s pride at cubs

Birthdays are fun whatever your age as this proud dad showed when his three cubs celebrated their first year.
Kali, Sita and Sonia marked their birthday by getting their teeth stuck into some meaty presents – once they’d tackled the wrapping paper.
Mum and dad Kanha and Rana couldn’t resist joining in the fun too as Cotswold Wildlife Park marked the birthday of its first Asiatic lion triplets on Thursday last week.
Hayley Mullaney, section head of large mammals at Cotswold Wildlife Park, said: “We are extremely proud of our beautiful lion cubs. To see them grow in the past year and watch them develop is amazing – it makes our jobs as keepers so rewarding.
“Initially, they were very funny and hesitant about the new boxes in their enclosure. In the end, their father Rana had to show them how it was done but the cubs loved playing with the boxes afterwards.”
The pair made history with the birth, as the cubs were the first lion triplets to be born at the park since it opened in 1970.
Rana and Kanha formed an instant bond when they were introduced in 2014.
Last year on May 25, Kanha gave birth to the cubs in the park’s birthing den.
Asiatic Lions are one of the world’s rarest big cat species, and are considered to be vulnerable to extinction.
Their population in the wild has declined drastically over the last century.
In 1900, just 200 were left in the wild due to trophy hunting and habitat destruction.
Once found throughout much of South-West Asia, they are now only found in India’s Gir Forest, which has shrunk to less than half its size since 2000.
http://www.oxfordshireguardian.co.uk/lions-pride-cubs/

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