SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Two African lions are now calling the Santa Barbara Zoo their new home. The two lions, who come from the National Zoo in Washington, DC, have been brought to Santa Barbara to breed with another male lion at the zoo. The future breeding is part of a program established by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
The zoo is also debuting a pair of fennec foxes, which have been made possible by a private donation. The foxes, which are native to the African desert, will be in an exhibit next door to the lions. For more information, please see story below.
Story provided by Santa Barbara Zoo Public Relations
Also making their debut are two fennec foxes – brothers named Bill and Andy by donors Frank and Karen Harris. Native to the African desert, fennec foxes are the world's smallest foxes and have distinctive large ears, which allow them to hear prey, and also dissipate heat, much like elephants' ears do. The fennec foxes are in the exhibit adjacent to the lions, formerly occupied by the black-footed cats, who are currently off exhibit pending their move to another zoo.
The Santa Barbara Zoo welcomes two young female African lions who are intended to breed with the Zoo's male lion, Chadwick, as part of a cooperative breeding program of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).
The two-year old lionesses arrived last month from the National Zoo (Washington, DC) via Federal Express and completed the 30-day quarantine required of all new animals. Named Kadi and Neema by their sponsors, the Dreier Family, the two will be introduced slowly to Chadwick. For now, the two females will alternate on exhibit with Chadwick and Gingerbread, the Zoo's other female.
The new lionesses are expected to be on view on Thanksgiving Day, when the Zoo is open from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.. They will be given raw turkeys as enrichment.
Now aged 14, Chadwick is getting older but his genes are still valuable to the AZA captive population. He is underrepresentedgenetically, as he and Gingerbread produced only two cubs: female Kiki, born in 2004, now at Zoo Atlanta; and male Docha, born in 2005, now living at the John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Only Kiki has had cubs.
Also making their debut are two fennec foxes – brothers named Bill and Andy by donors Frank and Karen Harris. Native to the African desert, fennec foxes are the world's smallest foxes and have distinctive large ears, which allow them to hear prey, and also dissipate heat, much like elephants' ears do. The fennec foxes are in the exhibit adjacent to the lions, formerly occupied by the black-footed cats, who are currently off exhibit pending their move to another zoo.
