Our new babies
All future updates will be on the ‘Big Five‘ page under News.
21 December: Last weekend we joined the three wild ones with Coby and Skyla, and all five are now sharing the top enclosure. We anticipated this move, and to ensure that it will go smoothly, we started allowing them supervised playtime together about 4 months ago. Mona, Mika and Shaka were a bit scared leaving their enclosure at first, so we opened up for Coby and Skyla to come down to them. After a short greeting session all five came back up to the top enclosure. That evening they were fed together for the first time. Surprisingly Coby turned out to be the dominant one, taking a whole leg for himself. Mika and Mona each got a leg and Shaka and Skyla ended up sharing. The next feeding day the same thing happened again. On the last feeding day Skyla didn’t even get to share and had to try and steal a leg from one of the youngsters. The group is now being fed every other day. Another challenge to the little ones was to learn how to climb onto the green hut’s roof. It took them a few days, but they have now mastered the art and poor Coby and Skyla can’t get a moment to themselves, as the little ones keep following them around. Although they got the climbing-up part under control, they still need to learn how to stay up without falling down. The other day Mona was on the roof, trying to cuddle with the rest of the group, but ended up slipping down. She was half asleep, and she was so lazy that she just kept on sleeping; giving the volunteers a good fright thinking something was wrong with her! The three younger ones no longer go out for a walk, because it is too difficult to separate them from Coby and Skyla.
28 November: This week we had to stop walking the wild 3, because they got distracted on their walks all the time, and kept wandering all over the walking area. They will now have a day or two without walks and then we’ll start afresh, first with one lap and then we will slowly increase it to two laps. They are still much darker than the Seaview cubs: Mika has a slim sporty figure while Mona has a big wide head. Shaka looks exactly the same as when he was a baby, just bigger and with a bit of mane growing. Personality-wise Mika is the cheeky one, Mona is the loner and Shaka the patient one. All three share a very strong bond and are more interested in each other than in the volunteers, but they still love it when we throw their yellow ball around for them to catch. They are being fed a 2kg steak each twice a day and are looking big and healthy!
22 November: The three cubs had an interesting walk this week. Coming around the boma after finishing their first lap, they came across a peahen with seven babies. What excitement – the cubs sprinted after them as fast as they could. Fortunately all the peacocks got away safely and left our disappointed cubs behind!
15 November: These cubs will be turning 6 months old on Wednesday! They are weighing around 25-30kg now. They have had a little diet change; they are now getting a 1.5kg steak with skin on in the mornings and the evenings. They have taken well to the change and love their steaks. The walks are still going well, even though every now and then they do try to run up the passage to visit Coby and Skyla. They are still walking three laps in the morning and evening.
8 November: These guys are still doing well and are growing very fast. Shaka is noticeably bigger than his sisters. He is even starting to get a little bit of longer hair around his neck now. The walking is going very well and they are doing three laps again. They were very busy on Sunday with interaction with the visitors, but did very well.
November 1: These three are becoming much more social now and are calming down a lot. Their walks are improving every day. They are still walking two laps a walk. They are still getting a rib in the morning and one in the evening, but it is nearly time for an increase. Shaka is starting to fill out now, looking a bit bigger than his sisters.
25 October: These little guys were really playful this week and behaved very well. The walks have been very good and the cubs are listening well to the volunteers now. The babies have also developed an interest in tyres hanging from the trees. A new game is to jump up and grab onto the tyre and bite while they are in the air. The babies are growing well with them weighing around 25-30kg.
18 October: As with Coby and Skyla the week was busy. The walks are going well and we are keeping them at two laps. They are definetly getting more exercise during the day with all the playing that is going on with Coby and Skyla and Shaka isn’t looking nearly as plump as before! These 3 have taken to the 2 older cubs tremendously and it has come to the point where at night they are digging and breaking the fence to get to the older ones.
12 October: The three were a bit naughty this week and wouldn’t walk properly so we are back to basic now, starting all over again with only 2 laps per walk twice daily. We’ve started over 3 days ago and so far babies are back to normal and being good walked. The other day on their walk we lost track of them and as we backtracked to find them we noticed all 3 are tense staring to the same direction. Fearing it’s a snake we rushed over just to find all 3 mesmerized by a little tortes that was busy walking by. Mika, being the wild one, tried to flip it over and chew on it; Shaka, completely out of character decided to be a brave boy and kept tapping on it and Mona just kept looking. Next morning we encountered another tortes but this time the 2 missed seeing it but Mona noticed it and kept sniffing and “smiling”.
3 October: The three babies are up to 3 laps per walk now and they are turning out to be very good walkers who actually don’t need to be called back in line. Most walks go by without the walk’s leader having to call out for them even once! They are growing so quickly now that for one of their two feeds of the day they get steaks so they’ll get some extra meat in. Shaka is still the calmest one out of the lot, although he’s starting to stand his ground with his sisters now. Mona is getting a bit more relaxed now, actually seeking for our attention and Mika is still the most playful one out of the lot, jumping all over all day long. We have a new “game” we play with her where we pick up one of the other two, which for some reason drives her crazy. She then starts following you around and until you put that baby down she doesn’t let go!
20 September: It seems like our new approach is working- these babies are now walking 2 laps straight without us calling out for them even once. We are being very strict with walking rules and it is paying off. We also changed their feeds this week and they are no getting fed nice big meaty ribs twice a day, after walks.
12 September: We started a new approach with the 3 little ones. As we got them at the age of 7 weeks they aren’t as easy as the regular Seaview babies. So we’ve been spending time with them and gaining their trust that way. Now we are able to pick up 2 out of the 3 and they all come running at you at morning time, happy to see you and ready to play. Shaka is a bit of a whiny little boy; a slow walker who gets beaten up by his sisters on a regular basis! Mona is definitely the brains out of the 3 and Mika is the independent one who comes over for cuddles only when she is tired. They get a rib for breakfast, 750 gram steak for lunch and a rib for diner. They are also up to 2 walk a day now and getting better at following us around now that we’ve bonded with them.
5 September: The babies are growing really fast now. They got their second vaccinations on Wednesday and were really not happy with us – snarling and growling at us after the shots. Mona also didn’t have a very good day on Saturday as she shocked herself on the electric fence a few times and then sulked and was not interested in her food for the rest of the day. But she’s since recovered!
29 August: These three have adapted really well to their new home and have learnt not to go close to the electric fence because that thing hurts when you touch it! Their diet has also changed a little bit instead of getting a bowl of meat for lunch they now each get a 500g steak. They are also walking much better now and are going to be starting evening walks this week as well.
Mika and Mona on their platform (29 August 2011)
23 August: Shaka, Mika and Mona have moved homes and are no longer in front of the restaurant but down in Adam and Jagger’s old enclosure under the boardwalk. They are doing really well in their new enclosure and have taken well to their first encounter with electric fences, understanding that you need to stay away from them. They are still getting a rib in the morning and a bowl of meat at lunch and then a rib again at supper time. They are also walking much better now that they have down to their new enclosure.
15 August: The cubs are growing so fast! They also changed to a new feeding schedule last week. They now get a rib for breakfast and dinner, and 250 grams of steak and porridge for lunch. They’re still very good eaters! Mika usually eats the slowest, so the volunteers have had fun with directing Shaka and Mona away from Mika’s food. They seem to enjoy all the meat they are eating now and have big, full bellies. They’re getting much better on their cub walks! They usually walk two laps in the morning and follow the pack very well. The only challenge is getting them to follow when Coby and Skyla are near because they are very interested in each other. When the cubs pass Coby and Skyla’s enclosure, they greet each other with lion rubs and sniffs. The cubs are very well-behaved when guests come to visit them. Mika and Mona are getting to be quite good at stalking and hunting already! They enjoy chasing their toys and play fighting with each other. They sometimes gang up on Shaka, but he holds his own against his sisters. He is definitely the sweetest of the three and a crowd favourite. They are now more often seen climbing and sunbathing on their platform, occasionally falling off, as they are still getting used to it. Not to worry, they don’t hurt themselves, but they do get startled.
8 August: Shaka, Mika and Mona are doing well and loving lazing about in the sunshine! This morning they had a very successful walk twice around the park, only slightly distracted by Coby and Skyla. Quite a sight to see 7 month old Coby run scared after being growled at by little Shaka! As they’re now 12 weeks old, they’re eating 3 instead of 4 meals a day – with more meat for the growing cubs. We’d like to say their manners are improving.. though they’re still as cute as ever, they’ve still not learnt that jumping on the volunteers backs is not the best way to get breakfast!
1 August: These little munchkins are still frightened of cars and loud noises, but are becoming more relaxed as the days go on. They have grown out of bottle-feeding and now will eat like big lions out of their dishes for every feeding. They love to laze around in the sun and take nice long naps.
Big yawn from little Mona (July 2011)
25 July: These adorable babies had a very busy week. They had their first cub walk earlier this week and as a reward started on small cubes of meat and porridge for breakfast. They have been hiding a lot due to the chilly rain but when they come out to play, they explore their baby enclosure and can be found wrestling with one another and playing with their blanket.
18 July: The babies are having limited handlings because they still need a lot of sleep, but they are slowly getting used to being played with by the public. They started getting small ribs and some meat so they can continue to grow properly. At times, Mika and Mona like to gang up on Shaka and wrestle with him, but the sides can quickly change and then it’s just a free for all.
11 July: What gorgeous, silly babies! They have gotten used to life here at Seaview and are settling in nicely. They started on porridge the other day and seem to have taken a liking to that much better than their milk. They only need a little encouragement to poo, but once they start there is no stopping them. They have also started bonding with Archie, Dean’s new Chocolate Lab puppy and all four seem to get along amazingly.
7 July: The babies have been named!The girls are called Mika and Mona and the little boy’s name is Shaka.
Mika
Mona
Shaka
4 July: We had an exciting weekend here at Seaview. We received three new additions to our lion family on Friday night: two female cubs and one male, each seven-weeks-old. They weren’t sure what to make of us at first but now are crawling all over the restaurant and making hearts melt. We are still trying to find names that match their personalities.
