Edinburgh Zoo welcomes first lion cubs in seven years

Edinburgh Zoo has added two new members to its family, and it has been a long time coming. The zoo announced the birth of two Asiatic lion cubs on Thursday 11 October, the first lion cubs born on site in seven years. The last ones arrived back in 2019, when Mitaali, Keshari and Kushanu were born here.

The new arrivals are the work of first-time mum Bindee, a 10-year-old female, and dad Jayendra, better known as Jay, a 15-year-old male. Keepers caught the birth on live cameras in the cubbing den, and the parents are part of the European Endangered Species Programme. The zoo's animal team leader, Alison MacLean, said the staff were absolutely thrilled with the beautiful new arrivals and that Bindee is happily bonding with the cubs while Jay remains his usual chilled-out self. There had been a mix of nerves and excitement waiting to see if their suspicions were right, after Bindee had been getting on well with Jay over the summer.

If you were hoping to see them this weekend, you will have to wait. Bindee and the cubs are staying out of public view while the family settles and bonds, and the lion habitat is closed to visitors until further notice. The cubs will spend several months in the den before they venture out to explore their habitat, with Bindee doing most of the caring during these early months. The keepers had suspected a pregnancy when they noticed Bindee's stomach getting larger and her moving more slowly, and it was only confirmed when she began pacing and adjusting her den.

It is worth knowing what makes these cubs special. Asiatic lions are a subspecies of lion listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, and they are found only in the Gir Forest National Park in the Gujarat region of India. Population estimates vary, with some sources putting the number of Asiatic lions left in the wild at around 350 and others closer to 600, all living in an area smaller than Lothian. The species faces threats from habitat loss, degradation and hunting, though poaching is not currently a problem in the Gir Forest thanks to dedicated forest guards and surveillance systems. The population has come a long way from the 1940s, when a census found only 12 lions left in the Gir Forest.

Edinburgh Zoo is no stranger to this kind of news, either. This year has been something of a baby boom for the zoo, with the lion cubs joining a long list of new arrivals in 2026, including Piper the pygmy hippo, a Linne's two-toed sloth named Atty in honour of Sir David Attenborough, a capybara and a giant anteater. The zoo, run by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, looks after more than 2,500 animals from around the world and works as a wildlife conservation charity, with a 2030 goal to reverse the decline of at least 50 species.

For now, the best way to follow the cubs is through the zoo's updates, as the habitat stays closed. The last time Edinburgh Zoo welcomed lion cubs was seven years ago, so this birth is a genuine event for the zoo and the city, and the cubs are already part of a wider conservation effort to protect one of the world's most endangered big cats.