Etawah
The Etawah Lion Safari is facing a piquant problem. The safari has seven lions including three males and four females that were born to Manan and Jessica between 2016 and 2020 now having reached a breeding age.
The problem that the safari faces is to prevent inbreeding (breeding between siblings) which can have an adverse impact on gene pool of the lions. Manan and Jessica were both imported from zoos in Gujarat.
Their seven progenies Rupa, Sona, Gargi, Neerja, Simba, Sultan and Bharat, comprise the first-generation lions at the safari and also in the state.
The seven siblings that have survived at the safari, have lent a hope to the project that was otherwise labelled doomed and flawed. All the seven are in the prime of their youth, aged above four years of age, and breedable.
In the wild, young males abandon the pride by 3.5 years of age, reducing the possibility of incestuous mating. Adult lionesses solicit mating from nomadic males or males from neighbouring prides, making inbreeding extremely infrequent.
The safari administration has started lodging the young lions and lionesses in adjacent rooms, so that any signs of acceptance between them can be deciphered. With the forest department considering bringing in four more lions from Gujarat soon, most of whom might be females, the prospective males may have more choice available as partners. Initially, when the cubs were released in the visitors’ area in October 2021, they were all siblings Bharat, Rupa and Sona.
