Let's begin our introductions at the Bird of Prey exhibit. The zoo's European white storks have done it again. For the third straight year adult storks Jethro and Cheyenne have filled their nest. It's usually one or -- at the most -- three little ones every spring. However, this year it's five.
"I think it was the really nice spring weather we had. It was really good for incubation and all five eggs hatched," Colleen Lynch, curator of birds, said. "They're doing great."
This is no fairy tale: Storks deliver their own babies.
Across from Jethro and Cheyenne's little family, meet Lilly, the new Red River hog who is just now on exhibit. The unusual looking creature is from the swamplands of Central and South Africa and it's the first one ever for Lincoln Park, so it's a special Porky-- or in this case, Petunia.
"She's a pig. And just looks very different, very colorful. Ah, very dynamic pig species that really likes to train. She's only been here a short period of time but already doing some training with keepers and just loves being outside," Mark Kamhout, curator of mammals, said.
And last, but not the least, the king of the zoo—a young male lion, Sahar. He's still pretty shy, probably because he has big paws to fill after the death of Adelor last February. And, well, he's a New Yorker in Chicago.
"He's from the Bronx Zoo. He's two and half years old and came to the Lincoln Park Zoo about a month ago and he's getting used to his surroundings," Kamhout said.
He's exploring his habitat now for the first times and is just learning to be the king of the zoo.
"He has a little bit of a roar now -- but a lot of it is confidence. So as he's here longer we think he'll start roaring a little more," Kamhout said.
Sahar is young and strong with a bright future. It's far from the end of this tale.
