Watch | African lions celebrate birthday in Philadelphia zoo

Updated on Apr 05, 2016 07:11 pm IST

Philadelphia Zoo shows 7-year-old Makini and 6-year-old lioness Tajiri grappling with birthday cakes and ice wrapped in gift paper and hidden in a small piñata inside their enclosure. Dana Lombardo, director of communications at Philadelphia Zoo said the lions were also serenaded to by the staff who sang 'happy birthday'. Lombardo said that Makini arrived at the zoo in 2011, Tajiri arrived in 2012.Tajiri gave birth to four female cubs Kataba, Mali, Msinga and Sabi in June 2014 by Makini, 'creating a new pride of lions at Philadelphia Zoo', Lombardo said. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) says in the wild these majestic cats are threatened by habitat loss and are listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. But they also describe them as the most social of all big cats whose prides can include up to 15 lions. And their roar can be heard as far as 5 miles away (8 km).

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