Lioness Rewa gives birth to four cubs at Nandankanan, 2 survive

Bhubaneswar: Nandankanan zoological park here on Tuesday night welcomed two baby lions (a male and a female) to the zoo with lioness Rewa giving birth to four cubs.
While two cubs died instantly, one of them a stillborn, the rest have so far survived and are under the care of zoo veterinarians at the animal baby rearing centre. As the lioness didn’t show keenness to show affection to the newborns, the zoo authorities took the cubs away from the mother.
It was the first litter of Rewa, which was brought from Indore zoo in 2019. The last litter in the zoo was five cubs from lioness Bijli and they are healthy. But the zoo authorities are yet to ascertain the sex of the five cubs as they are with the Bijli in the enclosure.
Bijli is the elder sister of Rewa. They were born out of one mother in Indore before they were shifted to Nandankanan. In March, Bijli had given birth to a single female cub Kamini.
“Rewa’s first and third cubs died while the second and fourth survived. We had been trying to get Rewa pregnant and taking care of its nutrition. She mated with Jeet last year also but failed to conceive. This year, she conceived and in 105 days of gestational period, the lioness gave birth to the cubs,” said zoo deputy director Sanjit Kumar.
With the addition of two cubs, the zoo now has 23 lions, 13 Asiatic lions, one African breed, seven hybrid lions and two newborns.