Saturday, May 1, 2010

New Baby Lion Cubs!

We retrieved the new baby lion cubs from their enclosures today. The rangers had moved their Moms to another area before we got down there. Upon their return, they may only look around for a few moments, then go on about their business as usual. This is what would happen in nature as well.
When we returned to the lodge with the cubs, we weighed them, bathed them, held them some more and named them. I wanted to name one after Richard, but with all the controversy between the volunteers, it got voted out. Still not positive what the final outcome of names were except 1, Michelle. She was the only white one and a female who was named after one of the volunteers that was here for several months and had left this afternoon.
There was 1 other female and 3 males. There had been one more, but earlier in the week there had been a disturbance between the lions and the cub had been killed in the middle of it all.
It was absolutely incredible to see them, hold them and photograph them especially at such a young age. (Less than 2 weeks old!) Although this was unusual to take them as soon as we did, this is usually done at 3 weeks old.