{"id":263010,"date":"2026-08-11T03:08:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T03:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/263010\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T03:08:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T03:08:14","slug":"new-lion-cub-kiazi-makes-her-roaring-debut-at-the-pittsburgh-zoo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/263010\/","title":{"rendered":"New lion cub Kiazi makes her ‘roaring’ debut at the Pittsburgh Zoo"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Zoo was roaring with excitement Monday as its new African lion cub, Kiazi, made her debut on World Lion Day.<\/p>\n

She was born on April 5, weighs 26 pounds and her name means “potato” in Swahili.<\/p>\n

Kiazi wasn\u2019t the only one to make an appearance, with new parents Scarlett and Hondo, as well as Aunt Ibana coming out to show off the little one.<\/p>\n

\"Male<\/p>\n

Hondo (left) laying down on a rock while Kiazi plays with Scarlett.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium President and CEO Jeremy Goldman says Kiazi\u2019s mom, Scarlett, has been with the zoo for almost seven years, while father Hondo came over from Idaho around a year ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrying to move a lion is a big deal\u2026 but it all pays off on a day like today when you get the end result, a beautiful, healthy cub,\u201d said Goldman.<\/p>\n

Being a new mother, Goldman mentioned there is a possibility Scarlett could reject her cub. However, Goldman and his team already have a plan in place to ensure Kiazi develops well in her new home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would do everything possible to keep that animal in, around and near the pride with the hopes that mom would turn around and eventually accept the cub,\u201d said Goldman.<\/p>\n

Zoo patrons were invited to submit names for Kiazi in June<\/a> as part of a fundraiser for the animals. Zoo officials say they\u2019re monitoring Kiazi\u2019s diet, weight gain and overall well-being. So far, though, she\u2019s been energetic and very attached to her mom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Zoo was roaring with excitement Monday as its new African lion cub, Kiazi, made her debut…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-263010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}