The lion cubs, born on November 16, 2019, spent their first few weeks in the birthing box. In early January, the little big cats moved with their mother to the “nursery”—and from that point on, Styria’s first litter of lion cubs was visible to visitors.

Starting in mid-March, the cubs began exploring the entire lion enclosure. Meanwhile, Dad Caesar could be found in the outdoor enclosure. Whenever the cubs—always accompanied by Mom Amira—went out into the garden, the 170-kg big cat stayed inside the house. Although Caesar had been physically separated from his mate and cubs since their birth, he could see them through the partition and pick up on their scents.

On Good Friday, the moment finally arrived: Caesar met his three children. “At first, he took his time—30 minutes—before entering the outdoor enclosure. Calm and stoic, he lay down in the grass and watched what was happening. His attention was focused more on his mate, Amira, from whom he had been separated since mid-November,” laughs Tierwelt director Doris Wolkner-Steinberger. The bravest of the three lions is SPAR’s sponsored cub, SPARtacus—he was the first to pad toward his dad.

“Our goal was to carry out the socialization not in the lion house, but in the outdoor enclosure. For this to work, other factors—such as the outdoor temperatures—had to be right as well. That’s why we waited nearly 5 months to bring them together,” said Dr. Reinhard Pichler, the zoo’s director and veterinarian. In the wild, it is common for the mother to separate from the lion pride to give birth and then return to the family with her cubs about 80 days later.