Lion cubs make their debut at Woodland Park Zoo

There's no better day of the week than Monday to see an orange cat. Better yet, two orange cats.

Four-month-old South African lion cubs Kamari and Zawadi will make their debut Monday at the Woodland Park Zoo in their outdoor habitat with their parents.

"They're super cute!" said zoo spokesperson Craig Newberry.

Kamari and Zawadi, whose names mean "moon" and "gift," respectively, in Swahili, were born Jan. 14 nine hours apart to first-time parents, mother Ilanga and father Tandie. It's the first time lions have been born at the zoo since 2014, when Tandie and his two brothers were born.

The sisters have been busy wrestling, playing, tugging on their dad's mane and taking lots of cat naps, Newberry said. Their most recent weights were between 35 and 37 pounds, so think the size of a small- to medium-sized dog.

In videos shared by the zoo, the speckled and wide-eyed cubs can be seen draped over their mother's haunches and squirming around against a log.

Over the past few months since their birth, the cubs have been bonding with their mother, Newberry said. Their father was fully introduced to them last week after only interacting with them through a mesh wall while they continued to grow to a safe size.

Ilanga and Tandie are "doing excellently in their new roles as parents, as all four lions continue to bond, play and, yes, nap in the outdoor habitat," the zoo said.

The lion family is part of the South African subspecies, Panthera leo krugeri, better known as the Transvaal lion, the zoo said. They range in certain areas between the Southern Sahara and South Africa and are considered a vulnerable population, numbering less than 25,000 in the wild.

Visitors will be able to see the cubs hanging out with their parents in the enclosure intermittently as they wander between the outside and inside portions of their habitat, Newberry said.

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