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First Birthday Means New Digs And Icy Treats For Cubs

Louisa Jonas
/
Texas Public Radio
The lion cubs shortly after they were born compared to a year later for their birthday.

The San Antonio Zoo is investing $1 million to expand and improve the animal habitats. Three lion cubs, whose first birthday celebration was today, will benefit from the renovations.

TP, Josh and Axelle, the three cubs, were rough housing with their parents as Tim Morrow, the zoo’s CEO, said they’re getting a birthday present, a habitat that’s 25 percent bigger.

To have these lions growing up here and have people be exposed to them and see them grow over the year as they come and visit is very exciting for us,” Morrow says.

Tim Morrow

Right now an outdoor moat keeps visitors at a distance.  When the new exhibit opens in October, a window will protect visitors, but allow them to get closer. And Morrow says they’re adding enrichment activities for the lions, like a large rope that runs through the window and allows the public and lions to interact. 

“So we’re going to have a tug of war in there where our guests will actually be able to do tug of war with the lions,” says Morrow. “As you know, if you have a cat at home, they love to play. They love to pull on strings. The big cats are no different—they love to play too.” 

Of course it wouldn’t be a birthday party without gifts to play with. The cubs go wild for their blood popsicles, made of just what you’d think. 

Louisa Jonas is an independent public radio producer, environmental writer, and radio production teacher based in Baltimore. She is thrilled to have been a PRX STEM Story Project recipient for which she produced a piece about periodical cicadas. Her work includes documentaries about spawning horseshoe crabs and migratory shorebirds aired on NPR's Weekend All Things Considered. Louisa previously worked as the podcast producer at WYPR 88.1FM in Baltimore. There she created and produced two documentary podcast series: Natural Maryland and Ascending: Baltimore School for the Arts. The Nature Conservancy selected her documentaries for their podcast Nature Stories. She has also produced for the Chemical Heritage Foundation’s Distillations Podcast. Louisa is editor of the book Backyard Carolina: Two Decades of Public Radio Commentary. She holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from University of North Carolina Wilmington. Her training also includes journalism fellowships from the Science Literacy Project and the Knight Digital Media Center, both in Berkeley, CA. Most recently she received a journalism fellowship through Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution where she traveled to Toolik Field Station in Arctic Alaska to study climate change. In addition to her work as an independent producer, she teaches radio production classes at Howard Community College to a great group of budding journalists. She has worked as an environmental educator and canoe instructor but has yet to convince a great blue heron to squawk for her microphone…she remains undeterred.