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Lion Cubs Taking a Swim Test? Lion Cubs Taking a Swim Test.

It's done as a precaution to make sure the cubs are safe when released into their main enclosure.

By way of introing this video and why you need to watch it, I was going to make a joke about Wednesdays taking forever, and then I realized it was actually Tuesday. Sometimes the week just sucks you up, and the only way out is to look at baby animals learn how to do animal things.

This video by Justin Dent comes by the way of Smithsonian's National Zoo, and features a quartet of lion cubs who were all born on March 2. I had no idea, but the National Zoo says that all cubs "must take a swim test, carefully monitored by the animal care team, before going on exhibit."

Conducting the test means plopping baby lions into a pond, where they have to be able to swim to the edge and climb out without trouble. It's done as a precaution to make sure the cubs are safe when released into their main enclosure. It's also pretty darn adorable. According to the zoo, all four cubs passed the test.