AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Zoo’s Four Lion Cubs Meet Their Adoring Fans

The 14-week-old cubs are set to tumble-bumble out in their yard to greet their adoring fans

Beth Py-Lieberman

Senior Editor

June 13, 2014

Lion cubs at the National Zoo. Abby Wood, Smithsonian’s National Zoo

The four youngest members of the African lion pride at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo will be greeting their public today at noon at the Great Cats Exhibit. Born March 2 to 9-year-old Shera, the 14-week-old cubs passed their swim test in May and have received all their vaccinations. The cubs, three males and a female, as well as their father Luke, the Zoo says, along with another female named Nababiep and her two female cubs for a parade of the pride—so long as the weather holds. (Heads Up: Gray skies in Washington, D.C., this morning.)

The cubs have not been named yet, so staff have taken to identifying each of the three by a number of unique shave marks that keepers have made to their hips and shoulders.

The Zoo reports that for the past seven weeks, the keepers behind the scenes have been making introductions between the cubs, their mothers, and Luke behind-the-scenes. "Thus far, all lions have showed interested in one another and their interactions have been positive during those meetings," according to the Zoo's release.