14 DAY TRIAL // About a month ago, on October 3, Badu, a lioness at Maryland Zoo, gave birth to a pair of lion cub twins. Unfortunately, the lioness passed away shortly after delivery, leaving keepers with no choice except look after the baby lions themselves.
The cubs, a male and a female, are presently off exhibit and, although they are orphans, keepers say that they are in good health and quite active.
For the time being, they have to settle for playing with each other. However, zoo employees are confident that, in the not so distant future, they will be strong and confident enough to be introduced to other lions living in captivity at this facility.
“They are very young, and we are measuring their progress and evaluating the situation day by day,” explains Margie Rose-Innes, as cited by Zoo Borns.
“Ideally they will be able to be introduced to the other Lions, but that will be some time in the future. For now, their continued health and well-being will be our focus,” she adds.
According to the same source, these lion cubs are the first of their kind to have ever been born at Maryland Zoo, so it should not surprise anybody that keepers and vets at this facility are bending over backwards to make sure that they have everything they might want or desire.
More so given the fact that, presently, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature considers lions to be a vulnerable species, which means that breeding these big cats in captivity is of utmost importance if the species is to escape extinction.