Transvaal Lion Answers
Posted at 11:05 am February 28, 2008 by Hali AndersonThanks, everyone, for your questions regarding Transvaal lionesses Tango and Mweezi (see Hali’s blog, Golden Girls in Their Golden Years). Hopefully, I will address all of them in this blog. First of all, our girls are Transvaal lions Panthera leo krugeri. All lions are Panthera leo, but depending on where they are found, they have a subspecies name. The Transvaal lion’s range is in South Africa. Depending on the source, it is noted that there are between 5 and 12 subspecies of lions; all but one, the Asian lion Panthera leo persica, are located in Africa and listed as vulnerable. Subspecies persica is located in Asia and is listed as endangered.
Tango and Mweezi were born August 12, 1992, at the San Diego Zoo. They were relocated to the Wild Animal Park at an early age and were housed with each other. At one point, Tango was bred and produced a litter of three cubs in 1995. Unfortunately, the cubs had to be taken away and hand-reared because Tango wasn’t caring for them properly. As far as I know, she has never been bred since. In 2002, the girls were brought back to the San Diego Zoo, where they have been ever since.
The average lifespan of lions is 10 to 15 years in the wild and up to 30 years in managed-care facilities. With this in mind, Mweezi and Tango may only be middle aged!
Do they interact with any other lions? No, they are the only lions we have at the Zoo. A delightful pride of two!
Hali Anderson is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo.
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February 28th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Hali, thank you for a very interesting blog and for answering the many questions brought up. Good to know that the sisters will be with us for a very long time!
February 28th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Hi, Hali! Thanks for answering some of my questions, too! Take care of these 2 ladies! I know that you are really proud of them and love them alot. Hope you will be able to get a couple of new younger lions real soon so that you all can have more babies!!
Thanks!
Chari Mercier
St. Pete, FL
February 29th, 2008 at 9:18 am
Thanks for all the interesting info and for the good care you obviously give the gals.
February 29th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Hali, Animal Planet does a lot of shows about the animals in Kruger National Park in South Africa. I remember that one of them stated that all the lions in Kruger were infected with some kind of disease. I do not remember whether it was cancer or TB or some kind of parasite. Do you have any information about this?
March 2nd, 2008 at 12:58 am
Was Farasi (the 18-y.o. lion now at the Atlanta Zoo) Tango’s breeding partner? If yes, was Tango Mshoni’s (the 12-y.o. lion surviving male lion at the Jacksonville Zoo) mother or was she Wakati’s (the male lion that died of cancer at the Jacksonville Zoo last summer) mother?
Moderator’s note: All we can tell you is that one of Tango’s cubs did indeed go to the Jacksonville Zoo.