Overview

• Araali gave birth on August 14 to four healthy cubs after a 115-day pregnancy and nearly 18 hours of labor.
• The pairing of Araali and Usiku was guided by the AZA African Lion Species Survival Plan to ensure compatible genetics and traits.
• The new cubs mark the fourth generation in DZCA’s lion lineage, following great-grandmother Neliah, grandmother Kamara and mother Araali.
• Araali was born at DZCA in 2020 and Usiku arrived from Lee Richardson Zoo in 2016, reinforcing multi-institutional breeding collaborations.
• DZCA supports wild lion conservation in Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park through monitoring and annual population censuses alongside its ex-situ breeding work.