Denver Zoo lioness adopts girl cub
Rocky Mountain News
Published January 13, 2006 at midnight
In a rare phenomenon, a baby lion rejected by her mother has been adopted by another Denver Zoo lioness and is thriving under her care, with some help from handlers.
The baby named Asali, was born to a lioness named Baby on Nov. 23. The first three weeks, all went well with first-time mother and cub, but suddenly Baby lost interest in nursing her baby girl.
Zoo staff intervened and brought the cub back to health. They also continued exposing the cub to other lionesses to keep her socialized. One lioness in particular, Natal, paid close attention to Asali. Natal had only recently given birth to stillborn cubs. Soon Natal had adopted Asali.
"Natal has proven to be a nurturing mother. We're so pleased that she is willing to raise this cub as her own. To our knowledge this is one of the first successful introductions of a surrogate lioness and cub in North American zoos," said vice president for biological programs Lynn Kramer.
Asali and Natal are not yet on exhibit. Asali, now 7 weeks old and 13 pounds, continues to be fed by zookeepers.
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