Lion cubs make roaring debut at Taronga Western Plains Zoo

Three lion cubs have made a memorable first public appearance at Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, NSW.

The cubs, the third litter born to mum Marion and dad Lwazi, have been gradually introduced to their father and siblings over the past couple of months.

They have now had a chance to explore the Lion Pride Lands habitat*, which zookeeper Bridget Kaitler said had been a real treat for those guests lucky enough to get a glimpse of them in the last week.

“It’s been really nice to see all three cubs out with their family, and it has been especially nice to see that our visitors love watching them just as much as we do,” Ms Kaitler said.

“Guests can now see our lions playing with each other and the cubs learning lots of stalking* behaviours. You’ll see the older sisters stalking the cubs, and they stalk their older sisters as well.

“It’s also great to see their interactions with their dad Lwazi. They are so obsessed with him, wherever he goes they follow him and want to jump all over him and get in his tail and his mane.”

The cubs’ birth brought the lion population at Taronga Western Plains Zoo to 11, with nine in the main pride including the newest cubs, their parents and their big sisters Amali, Imani, Mara and Zawadi.

Sub-adult males Bahati and Jabari, born as part of Marion and Lwazi’s second litter in October 2023, have now moved away from the pride* to form their own separate group, known as a bachelor coalition*.

In the wild, male lions leave their pride as they reach sexual maturity*. They do this in order to maintain genetic diversity* among the species. The young males form coalitions, and then either form their own pride or stay bachelors*.

“We took our cues from the lions themselves,” Ms Kaitler said.

“When we were doing those cub introductions, we saw some signs from Marion and the oldest sisters that it was time for the boys to make their own way.

“We made the decision to separate the boys so they’re now a bachelor group.”

The best time to see the cubs first-hand is between 10:30am and 3pm in the smaller of the zoo’s two lion habitats.

Brothers Bahati and Jabari can be seen in the larger habitat, where guests can enter the lions’ den on board the zoo’s purpose-built Pride Lands Patrol truck.

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GLOSSARY

• habitat: zoo enclosure for the animals that is set up to replicate their natural environment
• stalking: crouching down and slowly creeping up on prey before suddenly pouncing on them
• pride: a family group of lions
• bachelor coalition: a group of two or more male lions that have a strong bond and work together as a group to hunt and survive
• sexual maturity: old enough to reproduce
• genetic diversity: the variety of different genes in a species. The more variation there is, the better the species” ability to adapt to the changing environment
• bachelors: male lions without female partners

EXTRA READING
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Meet a miracle cheetah cub cutie
‘Awkward teenage phase’ before lions’ mane event

QUICK QUIZ
1. What are the names of the parent lions?
2. How many litters have they had so far?
3. How many lions are there at Taronga Western Plains Zoo?
4. What is a bachelor coalition?
5. Why did the zookeepers decide to put brothers Bahati and Jabari in a separate enclosure from the rest of the pride?

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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Family tree
Draw the family tree of the 11 lions currently living at the Taronga Western Plain Zoo and how they are connected.

Present your family tree in an easy to understand format.

Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Science, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
Compare the behaviours of the male lions versus some common traits of a human adult male (noting that all humans and lions have their own individual traits).

Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Science, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

VCOP ACTIVITY
Summarise the article
A summary can be a really good way to grab the main idea plus some key points in the article as a highlight. Think of the summary like a little advertisement or extract you could use to encourage people to read the article in detail. You want to give them an overview of the article that includes the main idea (being able to tell the audience what the article is about in one sentence), plus a few of the key points of the information.

Remember to re-read your summary to check that it is clear, concise and makes sense to the audience who haven’t read the article yet. You need to make language choices that allow you to explain the information in only a few sentences.