VIENNA (AFP) — Lion cub triplets thought to be a sub-species of the Atlas lion, extinct in the wild for almost a century, have been born at a Vienna zoo, curators said Monday.
Tiergarten Schonbrunn Zoo said in a statement that the mother and the father "display typical traits of a sub-species of the Atlas lion," also known as Barbary or Nubian lions and best known for the male's extravagant, full-flowing mane.
The zoo said very few of these lions live on even in captivity -- an AFP count in September 2006 put the number at around 50, after two Atlas lion cubs were born in a zoo in western France.
The last-known Atlas lion in the wild was killed by a poacher in Morocco in 1922.
The mother, named Somali, is behaving in an agitated manner, the vets indicated, with management closing off the caged area to visitors until the cubs and their mother settle.
In recent months, Vienna zoo has also seen the births of twin tiger cubs and twin polar bears. Last year, a baby panda was born there, the first to be conceived naturally in captivity in Europe, the zoo said.
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