S.F. Zoo introduces 2-month-old male lion cub with pride

The San Francisco Zoo’s littlest lion made his public debut this week with a tumble.

The 2-month-old male cub, which hasn’t yet been named, stumbled around his outdoor enclosure on shaky legs. At one point, he carried a stick in his mouth and followed his mother, Sukari, as she did a lap around the yard. But mostly, the fluffy critter lounged in the grass while zoo visitors oohed and aahed.

“He’s darling,” said Grace Ruth, who lives in the Outer Richmond. “It’s been wonderfully fun to watch him. The mom is very attentive, and he’s very curious. He’s so cute, and it’s going to be a blast watching as he gets older.”

The Lion House has been closed to the public for the past two months to give the new pair privacy. Zookeepers kept watch via a remote camera installed in the den but otherwise largely left them alone. The zoo is having a grand debut for the tiny cub this weekend.

The cub was born to Sukari, the zoo’s 13-year-old African lioness, on Aug. 30. She was bred with the zoo’s male lion, Jahari, and became pregnant in May.

The zoo’s three lions — Jahari, plus Sukari and another female, Amanzi — are part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ African Lion Species Survival Plan. Sukari has had two previous cubs, M’Fisha and Ahadi, both at the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium in Omaha, Neb. The last cub born at the zoo was Jahari in 1999. There have been 25 lion births since 1960.

There is always some degree of risk associated with pregnancy and the days after birth, Deputy Director Joe Fitting said. But Sukari seems to be an attentive mother, and the pair have bonded.

“Visitors are pretty excited to see him, and most of the staff are, too,” said David Bocian, the zoo’s vice president of animal care. “We gave them a lot of privacy for the first six weeks, and the mom was also being fairly protective. The cub has only been up and moving for the last week or two.”

Bocian added that Sukari is an excellent mother and that the cub has been taking advantage of the “24-hour milk bar.”

“It’s particularly rewarding that she’s been such a good mom,” he said. “The stress level has been particularly low because she’s doing a great job, and the cub is healthy. We aren’t worried about either of them.”

Zoo officials are not sure how the cub will be named. In the past, donors have selected the name or it was chosen through a fundraising campaign or public contest, which is how the zoo’s gorillas were named. For now, the focus is on keeping the cub healthy.

He will remain in San Francisco until he reaches maturity, at about 3 years old. Then he will probably be moved to another zoo. The cub is genetically valuable because he is Jahari’s only offspring. The older lion is one generation removed from the wild. His father was from South Africa.

“Their genes are not well represented in the zoo’s population,” said Ingrid Russell-White, the zoo’s curator of collections. “One of the goals of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums is to maintain genetic variability over the next 100 years so the captive population never becomes inbred.”

But zoo visitors were less concerned with those technicalities Thursday. Four-year-old Dylan Hom of South San Francisco pressed his hands against the thick glass and stared as the lion cub tripped over a branch.

“Look at the baby,” he said to his mother, Michelle Hom. “I think he wants some juice.”

“No, I don’t think so,” she said, lifting him closer to the glass. The family hadn’t expected to see a cub on their zoo visit.

“He’s really cute, and this was all so unexpected,” Michelle Hom said. “It’s so exciting to see, and I just know other zoo-goers are going to have a blast when they see him. You can’t beat seeing baby animals.”

Lizzie Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: ljohnson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @lizziejohnsonnn