Junagadh, 9 August 2013

A three-year-old lioness at Gir Sanctuary of Gujarat has given birth to five cubs. At an age when the lioness, named Laxmi, should have been learning hunting tricks, she is playing the role of a mother.

The cubs, which are now 75 days old and weigh between 3.5kilograms to 4 kilograms, were born on May 17 in the Gir Interpretation Zone.

It was a rare case where the survival rate of the newborn cubs was 100 percent. Laxmi had probably inherited ‘strong’ genes from her mother Shyama, who had also given birth to a litter of five in the past.

The Gir Sanctuary is also the only abode of the Asiatic Lion in the world, which is an endangered species.