As wild African lions fight human progress, zoos like the one in Canberra are playing a big role.

The Canberra National Zoo and Aquarium announced that two new lions have been added to their colony, aiming to welcome some new cubs.

Mlinzi, an adult male, and the lioness Nairibi were carefully selected and imported from other zoos, after experts determined they made a good genetic match.

If they manage to breed, their courtship will produce the first lion cubs at Canberra Zoo in more than 19 years.

And with lion habitats across the African continent still under threat, their arrival could mean more than just cute additions for zoo visitors to enjoy.

‘The signs are really good’ the couple will reproduce

The decision to import Mlinzi and Nairibi came after the retirement of the zoo’s two veteran lions, which have been among its attractions for the past 19 years.

The zoo’s general manager of wildlife and operations, Paul Whitehorn, said the elderly couple were no longer fit to be on display and were now in a more private part of the zoo, where they could spend their last years sleeping peacefully in the sun. . .

Two other white lions are also residents, but they are brother and sister and are not part of the breeding program as a result.

Whitehorn said organizing the arrival of the new breeding pair was a complicated and painstaking process.

“We make sure that we have space available for the animals, and we have space available for the calves and to have them for a certain period of time,” he said.

“Then we enter into negotiations with the zoos, where those animals are currently housed, and we do the big swaps, we move everyone around, and we end up with a pair that is genetically important to the region, and then hopefully nature takes its course.” .”

There are approximately 2,000 captive lions worldwide.

Whitehorn said it was important for the zoo to contribute to the global population of lions, which are listed as a vulnerable species.

“There is potential right down to the track to be the ‘ark,'” he said.

“If something were to wipe out lions in the wild, some major disease outbreak, then at least we’re in a position where we have animals that would potentially be released back into the wild.”

Zoo staff are optimistic that the new couple will have offspring after a period of getting to know each other.

“The signs are really good,” Whitehorn said.

“A lot of the work we’re doing is making her feel comfortable.”

He described the process as similar to an “arranged marriage.”

“You hope to have animals that are compatible in that way,” he said.

“And then once the female starts riding the bike, and the male does what he has to do, we need to make sure that the mother is comfortable, that she has a place where she can have the cubs where she doesn’t feel threatened.” .

Zoos now play an important role

Conservationists have not always viewed zoos as the ideal environment for different species, but over time they have played an increasingly important role in preservation.

Australian National University conservation biologist Rob Heinsohn said lion habitats in Africa were shrinking.

“Lions are getting into real trouble in Africa,” Professor Heinsohn said.

“They were thought to be pretty safe and then with the growing human population, they’ve been pushed out of the wild, and they’re really retreating into what they think of as five main areas where they think they can keep them in the ground.

While zoos once functioned primarily to entertain, today they also contribute to breeding programs and educate the public about the importance of conservation.

Professor Heinsohn said the lions generally adapted well to captivity.

“A lot of species just don’t do well in captivity, and it’s a real nightmare trying to get them happy and to the point where they reproduce… and where they’re actually good enough to get them back into the wild,” he said. saying.

“Lions are better than many, because they’re not particularly wide, they just go as far as they have to to get food.”

What it takes to raise healthy lions

The key is for zoos to make sure their lion populations are well fed, even with meat on the bone to maintain jaw strength, and that they have a social group to spend time with.

“And they just have to have other lions around them, they live in prides.

“As long as zoos manage them to be socially happy, they tend to get along, and the lions you see in captivity are generally quite happy and healthy.”

In the case of Mlinzi and Nairibi, the hope is that the future pups will increase pride and provide much-needed social contact for years to come.

Because males tend to become aggressive towards each other as they reach adulthood, male cubs will likely be moved from the zoo, while females will likely stay.

Professor Heinsohn said the zoo’s approach to importing lions was critical to ensuring populations remained healthy.

He said that to ensure the pair reproduced, Nairibi would need to feel comfortable with Mlinzi.

“Females are naturally very wary of males and that goes back to wild behavior,” he said.

In the wild, males come and go from a pack, which is made up mostly of females.

When males fight and take over a pride, they will often kill cubs already there to ensure that the females are ready to mate again with their own young as soon as possible.

“[Females] they accept their losses and go back into estrus fairly quickly and then they will have a new batch of pups for the new males and life goes on,” Professor Heinsohn said.

“But they lose a lot of cubs along the way. So in captivity there will always be some initial tension.”

What’s in a roar?

Time will tell if romance blossoms between this new couple, but experts agree there’s a sure sign that a lion is happy in its wild.

The roar is a sign from lions that they are not only happy, but also a territorial warning to others.

Lions can count, Professor Heinsohn said, and use the roar as a way of assessing how many others are in the area.

“The roar is one of the fantastic things that people can experience,” he said.

“No matter how many animals are there, they’re all going to roar together, and that’s basically saying, ‘This is our territory. Stay out.'”

“And, in the wild, there would be another territory a mile or two away and the lions there would hear the roar and know that they were home, that they are occupying their territory, ‘There’s no point going there, or they’ll get beaten up.'” .

Whitehorn said the lions at the Canberra Zoo roared “regularly”.

“He basically tells everyone, ‘Hey guys, this is where we are, we’re happy here.'”