NEWSLINK: World's first test tube lion cubs are 'healthy and normal'

The world's first test tube lion cubs are 'healthy and normal' five weeks after they were born in South Africa, raising hopes that other big cats including species of tiger and snow leopard could be saved from extinction.

A lioness gave birth to Victor and Isabel at a game reserve in August after she was artificially impregnated with sperm from a healthy lion, following 18 months of intensive trials.

In the latest pictures at the Ukutula Lodge and Conservation Centre near Pretoria, South Africa, Victor and Isabel are seen playing boisterously with each other and resting under a tree.

Lions are extinct in 26 African countries and numbers in the wild have plummeted 43 percent over the last two decades, with roughly only 20,000 left.

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