WASHINGTON – Four African lion cubs at the Smithsonian National Zoo are one step – or swim – closer to their public debut after going for a dip in a moat Tuesday.
The 10-week old cubs, three males and one female, underwent a swim reliability test to make sure they could handle themselves in the water.
Each of the four cubs was dunked into the two-and-half-foot-deep water, where animal keeper Kristen Clark waited in a wetsuit in case of emergency. Staffers verified the siblings’ ability to swim, then waited for them to stick their heads out of the water and put their front paws on the edge of the moat.
“I can definitively say they all passed,” said Craig Saffoe, curator of lions and tigers at National Zoo.
The first male cub wanted out right away, splashing and squealing as he jumped up toward the edge and tried to scamper away. The other three swam quickly alongside the wall toward the gate before lifting themselves up from the moat and back on solid ground toward staff members, who toweled them off.
A lion cub at the National Zoo passes his swim reliability test in preparation for he and his three siblings’ public debut in June.
(Homa Bash/MNS)
Saffoe said those individual reactions are all acceptable when the cubs, outside for the very first time, have all of their senses are stimulated at once.
“These guys hit the water, they’re not expecting it. It’s a shock to them,” Saffoe explained, adding that the first male was probably trying to get away from the water while the others were trying to flee from the animal keeper.
Theoretically, all of the cubs can swim, but the zoo staff has to be 100 percent certain with each one because the water moat surrounds the 30,000 square-foot exhibit where they will live. But more important than swimming, Saffoe said, is the cats’ ability to pull themselves out of the water in case of an accidental fall – or being shoved in by a sibling.
“Kids will be kids, no matter what the species,” Saffoe said. “They come out, they start playing around. Inevitably, somebody is going to get tossed into a water moat.”
Clark said the swim test is conducted with every litter of cubs that is born at the zoo to assure the cats don’t drown.
“It’s pass-fail,” Clark said, laughing. “If somebody doesn’t succeed the first time, we will try again. But we really haven’t had anyone that we’ve had to redo.”
Unlike tigers, which tend to seek out water, lions aren’t the biggest fans of being wet.
“Lions will definitely go in if it’s worth it, but the tigers will soak in the water or chase toys into the water and bob around with them,” she said.
One exception at the National Zoo is Shera, the cubs’ mother. Clark said the 9-year-old African lion strolls into the water until it’s deep enough that she can’t touch the bottom anymore.
“So if we need anything retrieved out of the moat, we count on Shera to do that for us,” Clark said.
Recently debuted animals:
Giant panda cub Bao Bao, 7 months old, began spending time outside a month ago.
Surviving sloth bear cub, whose two siblings were eaten by the mama sloth bear, will be officially debuted soon.
Upcoming events at the National Zoo:
Portugal. The Man concert on May 12 at 6:30 p.m.
Indie band will perform free concert to raise awareness about critically endangered Sumatran tigers
Free
ZooFari on May 15, at 6:30 p.m.
More than 100 restaurants serve up gourmet food and wine.
Tickets are $175 for members, $200 for nonmembers.
Enrichment Day on May 31 at 10 a.m.
Animal keeper demonstrations and talks, activities for kids and adults
Free
The four cubs, born on March 2, will be vaccinated this week and publicly debuted in mid-June. They were born to mother Shera and father Luke. The cubs, still nursing from their mom, weigh between 19 and 20.5 pounds and just began eating meat.
Two other National Zoo lion cubs, both females born on Jan. 24 to mother Naba and father Luke, will make their public debut on Friday, in time for Mother’s Day weekend. They will be outside in the Great Cats exhibit from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. every day.
None of the cubs have names just yet – for now, they’re identified by shave marks.
The zoo houses three adult African lions along with the six cubs, as well as one adult Sumatran tiger and her two cubs. The zoo breeds the big cats on recommendations by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, a nonprofit organization that oversees zoo accreditation.
Before this latest litter, seven lion cubs were born in 2010. According to National Zoo officials, they were “the most genetically valuable lion cubs in North America” because their parents’ genes were completely unrepresented in the zoo population. They are now at several zoos across the continent, including Santa Barbara, Calgary, Cincinnati and Buffalo.
The National Zoo, located on more than 160 acres in Northwest Washington, D.C., is home to 2,000 individual animals, including the famous giant panda couple and their cub. The zoo can be reached by car, bicycle or Metro. Admission is free.
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