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Baby Lions Play In Ukutula South African Park (VIDEO)

The Huffington Post   First Posted: 02/22/2012 11:50 am Updated: 02/22/2012 3:21 pm

There's nothing more adorable than a baby lion playing in a bucket. Except, of course, two baby lions.

In this incredibly cute YouTube video, a pair of 9-day-old lion cubs attempt to climb out of a massive plastic cup they're using as a play pin. But the two just don't quite have the strength to propel themselves out into the wilderness before nap time.

The clip was filmed in Ukutula Lion Park and Lodge, located just an hours drive from Johannesburg and Pretoria in South Africa.

While Asian lions are endangered, African lions have a shrinking population.

The footage reminds us of a recent viral video featuring a cute cub playing with a toddler in a crib.

Other not-to-be-missed adorable videos include these orphaned baby wombats playing in a sanctuary and this kitten snuggling up to a deer.

Also on HuffPost:

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    An orangutan infant at Ragunan Zoo in Jakarta, Indonesia, on February 15, 2007. Orangutans are threatened by deforestation and hunting. Click here for more orangutan photos.

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  • Gorilla Mother And Son

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  • African Penguins

    A group of African penguins gather near a pond at a conservation site in Cape Town, South Africa. Birdlife International say the African penguin is edging closer to extinction.

  • Endangered Tiger Cubs

    A Trio of 45 day-old Bengal white tiger cubs were born in December 2007 At the Buenos Aires Zoo. With only 240 white tigers living in the world, their birth gave a boost to the animals' endangered population.

  • South Korea's Black Bears

    A pair of black bears sit at a zoo in Kwachon, South Korea in November 2001. Black bears have been on the endangered species list since 2007.

  • Madagascar Lemur

    A newly born Madagascar Lemur, an endangered species, at Besancon Zoo in France. There are only 17 living in captivity worldwide.

  • Red Pandas

    Two-month-old twin Red Panda cubs make their debut at Taronga Zoo in March 2007 in Sydney, Australia. The cubs were born out of an international breeding program for endangered species.

  • Lin Hui

    China's panda is one of the world's most beloved but endangered animals. Lin Hui, a female Panda- on a ten-year loan from China - eats bamboo at Chiang Mai Zoo in Thailand in Sept 2005. Captive pandas are notoriously poor breeders.

  • South East Asian Monkey

    The Sydney's Taronga Zoo is home for this bright orange male infant monkey. This South East Asian monkey is highly endangered.

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    A grey-bellied Night Monkey born in captivity climbs onto his mother's arms at the Santa Fe Zoo, in Medellin, Colombia. The Night Monkey is an endangered species.

  • Tigers

    A six-month-old male Sumatran tiger cub rests under his mother careful watch at the National Zoo in Washington in October 2004. Sumatran tigers are endangered; fewer than 500 are believed to exist in the wild and 210 animals live in zoos around the world.

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    A baby elephant is pictured at the Singapore Zoo on Friday, Dec. 10, 2010. Many elephants are threatened by habitat loss and listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List.

  • Polar Bears

    A sow polar bear rests with her cubs on the pack ice in the Beaufort Sea in Alaska. In 2008, the U.S. government described polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Due to dangerous declines in ice habit, polar bears are at risk of becoming endangered.

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There's nothing more adorable than a baby lion playing in a bucket. Except, of course, two baby lions. In this incredibly cute YouTube video, a pair of 9-day-old lion cubs attempt to climb out of a...
There's nothing more adorable than a baby lion playing in a bucket. Except, of course, two baby lions. In this incredibly cute YouTube video, a pair of 9-day-old lion cubs attempt to climb out of a...
 
 
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11:49 PM on 02/22/2012
Babys are so cute..........til they grow up.
07:10 PM on 02/22/2012
Cute pics and story.Shouldn't that be play PEN?
04:41 PM on 03/20/2012
Not if you live in the south (eg. yes).

Also I'd think that's a tub, not a large cup.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
vintage3000
zombie movies crack me up
03:01 PM on 02/22/2012
Love seeing all of them, elephants are especially majestic to me for some reason.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Greg285
02:56 PM on 02/22/2012
Cute! Just think, they are going to turn into cold bloodied killers in two year’s time, a cat you don't want to run into on a dark night
02:07 PM on 02/22/2012
sws
02:05 PM on 02/22/2012
I LOVE NATURE!! If you do to please check out the International Anti-Poaching Foundation. They are doing great work to save the rhino in Zimbabwe which is being hunted to extinction and they need your help!
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ninjacb
not just another white dope on punk
01:59 PM on 02/22/2012
i just love these animal stories. i so wish hp had an entire section devoted to them.
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gulopartisan
My micro-bio is still empty.
01:34 PM on 02/22/2012
A "play pin"? Does HuffPo even HAVE editors?
02:03 PM on 02/22/2012
Sometimes I wonder.
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Chad Wheeler
03:43 PM on 02/22/2012
My parents erred on the side of caution and I never got a play pin as a child.