They make look adorably cute and cuddly, however these lion cubs made headlines throughout their daring escape from Taronga Zoo earlier this month.
Chaos erupted when 4 of the lion cubs and their dad escaped from their enclosure for nearly three hours.
This week on Taronga Who’s Who within the Zoo, the documentary is trying again at the place it began – together with the nerve wracking second the cubs met their dad Ato for the primary time.
Stream each episode of Taronga: Who’s Who within the Zoo free of charge on 9Now.
When zookeepers put lions Ato and Maya collectively, the intention was at all times to spice up the inhabitants of the declining species inhabitants.
But they received greater than they bargained for once they found Maya had birthed 5 lion cubs.
“Oh my goodness, I seriously would have never thought that she was going to have five,” one zookeeper exclaimed after making the invention.
From start, employees started “around-the-clock monitoring” to ensure every part from feeding to grooming was going easily for the cubs.
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Maya definitely had her paws full with 5 cubs and whereas a giant litter is incredible news, “having female cubs to mother their own prides one day is crucial to the breeding program’s success”.
During this time keepers stayed away from Maya and the cubs to allow them to bond, which meant an anxious 12-day wait to study the intercourse of the cubs.
But the nerves disappeared when keepers uncover three of the 5 cubs are feminine. You can watch the second within the video above.
”The future of the breeding program is looking very promising,” Naomi Watts, narrator of the documentary, defined.
And the news solely received higher from there.
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“Their weights are wonderful, they’re ranging between 5.5 and 6.5 kilos,” lion supervisor Louise mentioned.
“It’s just fantastic for such a big litter.”
With every part trying good for the cubs, there was only one thing more to do – introduce them to their dad Ato.
Nerves have been excessive for the keepers as they anticipated Ato’s response they usually had a plan in place in case issues went improper.
If Ato received aggressive with the cubs they have been prepared with a hose and for a final resort, that they had a fireplace extinguisher on standby if any of the cubs have been imminent hazard of being killed.
But Ato acted precisely as Louise anticipated him to.
“He was very worried, he was very tentative,” she mentioned as Ato made his means contained in the enclosure with the cubs.
“There was a couple of times when he was a little bit rough with the cubs.”
But mum Maya was straight on the defence within the case that Ato wasn’t on his greatest behaviour. You can watch what occurred throughout their first household assembly within the video above.
Watch all of Episode 4 ‘Lion Pride’ and extra of Season 3 of Taronga Who’s Who within the Zoo on 9Now.
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