Sala, the North Carolina Zoo’s female lion, gave birth to three cubs early Monday morning. This litter is Sala's second. She delivered her first cubs, twin females, in July 2004.

In order to protect the health of the cubs and the well-being of the mother, the Zoo will not exhibit the youngsters until next spring.  Keeping the family off exhibit will protect the cubs while they are still physically fragile and will assuage the mother's instinctive need to keep her offspring isolated and hidden.

Zookeepers have set up a closed circuit TV inside of the lion's off-exhibit space so that they can monitor the family's progress without disturbing the mother or her cubs.  So far, the keepers have caught only a few glimpses of the cubs inside the den, but mother and newborns seem to be doing fine.

Beginning on October 27, visitors will be able to see the cubs on this closed-circuit system by watching monitors that will be operating at the lion exhibit.  The monitors will be available from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday until at least Nov. 26.

Zoo officials have not yet gotten close enough to the cubs to determine their sexes. The staff suspects that the cubs will be 5-6 weeks old before veterinary staff will give the cubs their first physicals and determine their sexes.

Officials have not set a date to begin introducing the cubs to the lion exhibit. However, these introductions will most likely wait until warm temperatures prevail and the Zoo has finished repairing the roof on an adjacent exhibit.

Meanwhile, the Zoo’s adult male lion will remain on exhibit daily.