Two African lion cubs were recently born at the National Zoo. On January 24th, the 10-year-old proud mama, Nababiep gave birth.
The Smithsonian National Zoological Park has been in the news quite a bit lately following the birth of giant panda cub, Bao Bao. In a recent report, two African Lion cubs have become part of the zoo's family.
On January 24th the 10-year-old proud mama, Nababiep gave birth. The zoo captured a video of the new family.
Mom looked utterly exhausted while the cub siblings crawled around the floor. Cute isn’t nearly enough to describe the interaction.
The entire birthing process took about 8 hours. Naba actually gave birth to three cubs during that time period, but sadly one was stillborn.
Despite that, Nababiep took to her two babies beautifully. This made it the mother lion’s third litter.
A zoo spokesperson, Rebecca Stites stated “The first few days of a lion cub's life are very fragile. Naba continues to prove that she has great maternal instincts, so the best course of action is for us to allow her to care for and bond with her cubs.”
The babies are moving around and vocalizing just fine. The births are serving as a major source of excitement, as the two new cubs are the first in four years to appear at the zoo.
They are scheduled to be placed on exhibit later this Spring.