She is beautiful, she's brave and she's absolutly adventurous.
Just seven weeks ago the Fort Worth zoo announced that their Lioness mother Abagebe had just delivered three cubs (You can see the video at the bottom of this page). All three lion cubs were in perfect health and the male lion named Siyanda, Lindelani and her sister Thabisa, were all doing great and Abagebe was showing signs of being a very attentive mother, and her actions today only validated their initial assumptions.
There zoo announced that they would be opening the dens door that led to the outside and while this did not mean the cubs would be making their first public apperance it did mean there would at least be a chance.
A line of reporters and photographers gathered
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The fact that she [Lindelani] was the one to venture out — I always thought it would be the bigger ones,” Blackney said. “It will be interesting to see who will take the lead and who will be the most adventurous.”
Abagebe was bred with Jabulani. Both were born at a South African wildlife facility and arrived at the zoo in 2012.
The babies are important to zoos nationwide and to conservation efforts, said Ron Surratt, director of animal collections at the Fort Worth Zoo, because they are a completely new bloodline in the U.S. and Abagebe and Jabulani are not related.
“That is good for the population,” Surratt said. “We want to be self-sustaining as far as our captive population, so it is good for that. But then also it is a hedge against extinction. If something ever has to happen down the road, we will have lions.”
Once found across Africa, throughout Asia and as far west as Greece, lions now live mostly in designated national parks or hunting areas. Only about 30,000 are left in Africa and about 300 in India, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Lindelani is the smallest of the three cubs. Her siblings are Siyanda, a male, whose name means “we are increasing,” and Thabisa, a female, whose name means “bring joy.” The cubs weighed about 2 pounds at