Four tigers born in the zoo – NRK

This is the third time that the born Siberian tigers in the park.

– I think Boonya ideally suited as a mother. The last day I have followed with her and the children on a surveillance camera, and she fits very well on them. She washes them and gives them food. The kids seem healthy, says Hilde Sangesland Strædet NRK.no.

Boonya came to the zoo in Kristiansand on 13 February 2013. Both Boonya and male Ulysses is part of an international conservation program.

Photo: Zoo

– Very relieved

It was she who first discovered that Boonya had been four kids mom. For several days zookeeper stood up at night to check on the four-year-old Siberian tiger has given birth.

– First I saw nothing but Boonya have tended to lie behind a stump in the room. It was only when I arrived in the morning I saw that there were tiger cubs in the cage. I was very relieved when everything looked fine, says Strædet.

– Perfect Time

She believes the birth occurred sometime between the hours of 4:30 and 07:00 the night of May 17 . Boonya part of an international breeding program for Siberian tigers and the couple was two years ago. When she was not pregnant.

– I think this was a perfect time for her to have children. Now she has become more mature and are able to take care of the kids in a good way, says Strædet.

She says there is always a risk that parents encounter children from themselves, or at worst kill them after birth. Many young tiger mothers may also be confused and have no power, “toddler time.”

– So far it looks as if maternal instinct is as it should be. Ever since the birth has four year old Boonya looked after their young. She keeps them together, licking them and values ​​them, says biologist Helene Axelsen.

She says that all is well with both mother and child.

Siberian tiger is classified as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. • Tigers give birth usually 2-4 cubs in a litter.

Photo: Zoo

– The pair married last year

The birth came as no great surprise. Zookeepers observed that Boonya and Ulysses couple married last year, and hoped for the best. Boonya has had a clearly growing belly and has been monitored carefully in recent weeks.

In the future Boonya and the kids kept shielded for them to get the most calm and without danger Ulysses will greet the first.

– A tiger birth is very stately for us. It has only happened twice before in Norway, and never before it is born a litter of four, says CEO Per Arnstein Aamot in the zoo.

Boonya carries with it a dramatic story. She was born in Novosibir of a mother who lived in the wilderness. The mother, however, proposed an illegal snare that was set up by poachers, but was found by forest keepers before the shooters found her.

She was too ill to return to nature and were thus taken care of in a zoo. Here she gave birth Boonya and numerous other tiger cubs.

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