Just a few days after her birth lion offspring of Nuremberg zoo died. The zoo had been expecting the offspring since the pairing at the end of January. The gestation period lasts an average of 110 days Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica).
After the lion lady Aarany gave birth to four cubs on May 12, the first showed no signs of life just a few hours after birth. Results of a pathological examination indicate that the lion cub’s lungs were not yet fully expanded. Also signs of infection could not be determined so far, the reported City of Nuremberg in a press release. The three remaining young animals were eaten by the mother by the following day.
Cubs eaten by mother after birth
What may sound cruel, however, is for lions not unusual behavior. “A lioness is inexperienced when she has her first litter,” explained the zoo veterinarian Herman Will. “She has to learn how to raise young animals first. That’s why it often happens that rearing doesn’t work out for the first time.”
As the zoo announced, Aarany and the male Kiron are now together again in the zoo’s outdoor area. Not least because the Asiatic lions, according to the World Conservation Union IUCN are classified as “endangered”, the zoo hopes for more offspring.
The only Asian population of these animals is currently in India Gir National Park and adjacent areas where around 630 animals lived in 2017. Even if the capacity limit reached in the national park and the population can therefore not increase, it is considered stable. Outside the park meanwhile threaten conflicts between wild animals and the population. At disasters such as forest fires or plagues, there is therefore a risk that all lions of this species there will be lost.
Nuremberg zoo hopes for more offspring
Play in this context reserve populations important role in zoos because they offer the opportunity reintroduce animals to nature. For this, however, the criteria of the IUCN must be met. As with the Asiatic lions, this is currently not the case for many other animal species worldwide.
The breeding and keeping of currently 113 Asiatic lions in a total of 40 European EAZA zoos (European Association of Zoos and Aquariums) will be on scientific basis coordinated. The aim is to have one as possible great genetic diversity within the population to obtain. Against this background, the coordinator of the European Conservation Breeding Program EEP recommended the 2018 in Frankfurt born lion male Kiron to Nuremberg to send. Together with Aarany he should take care of offspring. As hoped, both have harmonized well since Kiron’s arrival in August 2022, the city of Nuremberg announced.
