Odisha Nandankanan Zoo’s Lioness Bijli Accepts Her New Cub; Know Her Story

Bhubaneswar: Lioness Bijili gave birth to a cub at Nandankanan Zoological Park, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, at around 2.15 am on Friday.

The Asiatic lioness delivered the cub after 110 days of pregnancy, informed the NZP officials.

Notably, the five-year-old lioness had given birth to two cubs and a stillborn on July 21 last year. A first-time mother, the lioness was unable to tend to the cubs and stopped paying attention to any because of the stillborn. Following this, the male cub died after three days. The other cub, Barsha, was hand-reared by Prasanta Gouda, animal-keeper at the zoo.

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“Bijili has accepted the cub this time and feeding it properly. Both the mother and the cub are in good health. They are being kept under CCTV surveillance, by a veterinarian and a Nandankanan worker, in a separate enclosure,” zoo deputy director Sanjeet Kumar said.

The cubs were sired by male lion Samrat, who was brought from Kanan Pendari zoological garden, Bilaspur (also known as Bilaspur zoo) in April.

With the newborn, the zoo now has 18 lions including nine Asiatic lions.

Notably, the tiger count at Nandankanan had increased to 29 on March 11 after white tigress Rupa gave birth to two white cubs and a normal cub.

Currently, Rupa and Bijli are both being monitored by the veterinarians and zoo’s team and staff.