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When its time for new cubs to be born, the lioness finds a nice private place to give birth. Lionesses can produce as many as six cubs at a time, but usually a lioness only has two, three, or four cubs. Cubs are about 12 inches long and weigh between 3 and 4 pounds. A lion cub is helpless during its first few weeks and their eyes are closed and they cant move or walk very well. Cubs spend most of their time eating and sleeping. Like other mammals, the mother lion feeds her baby cubs milk. Milk is the cubs only food during the first three months. At the age of ten days and two weeks, the cubs can see. At six weeks the cubs can walk and follow their mother and she takes them out of their den to rejoin the pride. When several females in a pride have cubs, the mothers take care of each others cubs and allows cubs that are not their own to nurse. Lion cubs drink milk until theyre seven months old. Mothers stay with their cubs all the time except when she goes hunting. Hyenas and leopards can kill cubs while the lionesses are out hunting, so the cubs stay hidden. The cubs spotted fur help them hide. Females dont mate again until her cubs are 1 ½ yrs old. When she has new cubs her old cubs have already become part of the pride and they take care of themselves. In the wild, fewer than half of the cubs grow up to be adults. Many starve if there is not enough kills or get killed by predators. In some cases, male lions that take over a pride kill all the cubs. A female who has lost her cubs will mate again right away. By the time cubs are nine weeks old they have full sets of baby teeth including the teeth in front of their mouth. The baby teeth fall out and are replaced with permanent teeth when they are thirteen and fifteen months old. Lions have sharp claws and can pull their claws in when they are not using them. Pulling their claws in helps keep them sharp for when they need to fight, hunt, and climb trees. Playing and climbing help the cubs strengthen their muscles and become well coordinated. When cubs are three months old they join the pride on their hunts, then they are able to eat meat for the first time.
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