Just as a cat can distract itself for hours playing with a ball of yarn, so too can you zone out for stretches of valuable work time watching the Oakland Zoo’s delightful “CubCam.”
Maple and Willow are rescued mountain lion cubs that are temporarily living at the Oakland Zoo. They were found in November 2023 wandering in Burlingame, after their mother was hit and killed by a vehicle.
The zoo recently installed a live-streaming camera so the public will not miss out on the cub’s delightful antics. On a recent afternoon, they spent time play-stalking each other, chewing and spitting out fronds of grass and generally bouncing around their pen like the furry SuperBalls they are.
Willow and Maple’s current home is the zoo’s “head-start space” for rescued cubs, which is next to an enclosure for adult mountain lions – the thinking being that proximity to the elders will imbue social skills among the orphans.
The zoo explains: “Like most of the rescued pumas brought to us, these two were sadly orphaned at a young age and did not learn the skills necessary to survive in the wild…. Until the California Department of Fish and Wildlife finds this pair a ‘furrever home,’ we will continue to give them lots of love and support in growing here at Oakland Zoo.”
Check it out here: oaklandzoo.org/webcams/mountain-lion-cam
