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STAR-ADVERTISER PHOTO BY BRUCE ASATOBASATO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Ekundu the lion makes his first appearance to the public in the lion exhibit at the Honolulu Zoo. Ekundu, which means 'red' in Swahili, is almost 3 years old.
The Honolulu Zoo introduced its new male African lion to hundreds of eager visitors and city officials this morning at a reopening ceremony for its lion exhibit.
The lion — named Ekundu, or “red” in Swahili — is two and a half years old and weighs 365 pounds. It arrived in Honolulu from the San Diego Wildlife Park on July 1 and was being kept in quarantine before today’s unveiling.
“He’s very handsome,” said the lion’s primary zookeeper Caitlin Capistron. “He is the king after all.”
The male lion is being kept in the old lion exhibit that has been modified with higher railings and an additional viewing area. The exhibit’s previous inhabitants — two female African lions — were put down in 2008 due to old age.
The lion was given to the Honolulu Zoo through a partnership with the Species Survival Plan, a global consortium of zoos and wildlife sanctuaries that oversees endangered species in captivity. The male lion will be joined in November by a female lion from the Bronx Zoo in New York. Zoo officials said they plan to mate the lions in the next few years.
“What is best for the survival of the species is what we do,” said Suzanne Kariya-Ramos, executive director of the Honolulu Zoo Society.
