The Singapore Zoo has announced the successful birth of a lion cub through artificial insemination.

Simba, the three month old cub, is named after the protagonist in Disney’s The Lion King. His father Mufasa, will never see him grow as the older lion was not revived after the insemination procedure.

Simba was born in October last year, but the zoo waited to announce his birth this month.

Semen was collected from the old African Lion by what the zoo described as “electro-ejaculation” for artificial insemination, where semen is extracted from the animal using electric pulses.

Simba is the late Mufasa’s only son, as the older cat failed to mate successfully due to his aggressive nature.

This is a first for the park and a rarity, seeing as it has come three years after two cubs were born in South Africa through assisted reproduction in 2018.

Mufasa, who suffered from atrophy, had to be euthanised by the zoo before semen collection.

Mufasa’s genes – now passed on to Simba – will be of “high value in contributing to the genetic diversity and sustainability of African lion populations in zoological institutions,” the zoo spokesman said to the BBC.

As African Lions and other species have been classified as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), this birth is a step to save Africa’s big cats.