Auckland Zoo Old Newspaper Articles

Axl

Well-Known Member
The New Zealand Newspaper Archives offers an interesting range of online articles about the early inhabitants of the Auckland Zoo.

This article from the Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 57, 5 September 1938, Page 6 is about the zoo's litter of lion cubs (born 1938):

Papers Past — Evening Post — 5 September 1938 — LITTER OF LIONS

It's amazing how little is known about the species back. They say a litter of four is extremely unusual (only at Paradise Valley) and that twins are almost always male-female.

It would seem likely that better diets and both ante-natal and post-natal care of the lioness and her offspring contibute to the higher birth rate that is seen is many zoos including Auckland.
 
The maximum litter size in my experience has been six. However, Mum killed and ate two of the cubs not long after birth and then went on to raise the remaining four perfectly.

Makes you wonder if she knew what her limits were!!
 
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