Lioness gives birth to stillborn cub in Chennai’s Vandalur zoo

P Oppili| TNN | Nov 13, 2017, 20:09 IST

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CHENNAI: Mala, a six-year-old lioness in Arignar Anna Zoological Park (Vandalur zoo) in Chennai, gave birth to a stillborn male cub on Monday.

This is the first incident of a lioness giving birth to a stillborn cub in the Vandalur zoo, an official said.

The cub was buried after a postmortem.

According to zoo authorities, the lioness mated with a nine-year-old lion, Siva, 104 days ago. The gestation period of a lioness ranges between 105 and 110 days.

The zoo houses a total of 15 lions, including an eight-month-old male cub. Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami named the cub Vishnu a month ago.

Generally, big cats that give births to cubs for the first time will not be able to provide proper parental care to the newborns. In an attempt to protect the cubs, they keep shifting them from one place to another. In this process, the mother sometimes kills the young ones.

A week ago, a tigress in the zoo killed four of her newborn cubs. Postmortem revealed that the tigress, which was a first-time mother, was unable to carry the cubs without inflicting injuries on them. The cubs suffered deep injuries and died.

Wildlife researchers say such incidents do happen in the wild too.