Lunch time: The cubs eagerly wait for food at Tata zoo on Tuesday. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, Aug. 22: Mums who beg, plead and cajole their children to eat will now tell them to learn from the five 14-month-old lion cubs at Tata Steel Zoological Park, Jamshedpur.

The regal quintet from Pretoria zoo, officially known as National Zoological Gardens of South Africa, which reached the steel city in June last week, has made itself home and loves the extra helpings of beef.

A child with a healthy appetite probably tops a mother’s wish list. And the pure-bred lion cubs, three females among them, can teach their human counterparts a thing or two about how to eat properly without fuss or tantrums.

“We received word from Pretoria experts that time had come to increase the diet of the lion cubs. We are giving each of them 4kg of beef on alternate days. Earlier, the quantity of beef was 3kg every two days,” zoo vet Manik Palit said, adding that they were in regular touch with the South African zoo for the quintet’s proper care.

Though it is not polite to refer to jungle royalty as wolfing down its food, that’s what the five lions do. They polish off raw meat with gusto, a sure sign of good health and high humour.

Sandwiched between the days of beef-heavy meals, come the chicken diet. Each cub is given 1.5kg of chicken on alternate days. They also fast once a week. However, Vitamin AD3E and calcium are a daily affair.

“We have to be very careful about their diet for the first three years as that has a bearing on breeding. Lions who are better fed breed better. We won’t take any chances,” Palit told The Telegraph.