Today, on May 25, in Mykolaiv Zoo there is a holiday, two lions (Panthera leo) – male Lank and female Lola have a birthday, they turn 5 years! By the way, these African animals celebrate their birthday on International Africa Day, symbolically, isn’t it? They were born in South Africa and came to our zoo as a gift from a private person from Kyiv on 10 October, 2016.
Our birthday celebrants are communicative and kind to employees, they know well the people who take care of them. They live like a real lion pride, their cubs Simba and Ilana, born in 2019, live with them. And this year, on February 13, female Lola gave birth to two more cubs, named Lars and Lieda. Now Lola and her youngsters live separately from the pride indoors. In the future, Lars and Lieda should be transferred to another zoo.
Birthday boy Lank is a real leader of his pride. He and his son Simba already have a competitive relationship, but the son still obeys his father. And Ilana has her privileges in the royal family. She can even take a portion of meat intended to her father, and he gives in to her.
Despite the fact that Lank and Lola were raised by people from the age of one month, they still did not become "plush toys". These are real predators with natural instincts.
Since 1970, the head of the department of carnivorous mammals Tetyana Bondarenko keeps records of lion cubs born in our zoo. Since then 133 lion cubs have been born.
One of the first experiences of artificial feeding of lion cubs was described by the zootechnician of Mykolaiv Zoo Lyudmyla Nichikova in 1950.
We invite everyone to take a walk to our zoo to congratulate the birthday celebrants of the royal family! You can see them in the exhibit complex "Island of wild beasts".
