Now, you can watch Cameron Park Zoo’s new mountain lion cub Tawakoni on a “cub cam” as she spends bonding time with her brothers in Oklahoma City.
The orphaned cubs were found in the Black Hills of South Dakota by South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks officials.
Game officials determined the cubs' mother had died and they would need to be cared for by humans. They contacted the Association of Zoos and Aquariums because the recovered cubs could not be returned to the wild.
The Oklahoma City Zoo will keep the two brothers and Tawakoni will move to the Cameron Park Zoo later this summer.
The three siblings will remain together in Oklahoma City for the meantime during their first crucial stage of development.
The 11-week-old cubs have moved out quarantine at the zoo’s Joan Kirkpatrick Hostpial 30 days after arriving.
The cubs were transferred into the zoo’s bobcat habitat until they are big enough to move into the mountain lion habitat. Cody, the OKC Zoo’s bobcat, has been moved to the mountain lion habitat in the meantime.
As part of their public debut, Oklahoma City Zoo created a “Mountain Lion Cub Cam.” Viewers can watch Tawakoni and her brothers Toho and Tanka explore their new habitat as the siblings pound, play and bond.
The cub cam will be live 24/7. The zoo says optimal viewing will be from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., weather permitting.
The Cameron Park Zoo decided to name the female cub Tawakoni to honor the endemic tribe which later became a branch of the Wichita tribe. The Tawakoni inhabited the banks of the Brazos River and were allied with the Hueco tribe, which the city of Waco was named after.
The zoo said Tawakoni translates to "river bend among red sand hills."
Tawakoni's brothers were named Toho, meaning "cougar god" and Tanka, after Wakan Tanka meaning "great spirit" from the Lakota language.
