Oh the indignity. Watch as four lion cubs at the National Zoo are given an unceremonious introduction to the water.
Don’t worry, though. The zoo hasn’t turned into an animal dunk tank. The keepers just want to ensure that their young charges are prepared in case they decide to explore the moat surrounding their enclosure.
While lions don’t typically swim in the wild, it isn’t totally unprecedented either. One group of lions in Botswana, stranded by the rerouting of a river, has evolved over generations to hunt in swampy marshland for Cape buffalo. These lions are more muscular and heavily built than the lions seen on the savannah. In fact, the females of this group are almost as large as a normal male lion.
Watch the last cub….unlike her siblings, she seems to enjoy her first dip.
Hakuna matata indeed.
