Adorable And Rare Malayan Tigers Born At Cincinnati Zoo

The declining Malayan tiger population — there are fewer than 500 left in the world — got a tiny boost Feb. 3 with the birth of three cubs at the Cincinnati Zoo and Aquarium. They’re completely gush-worthy as they tumble around in the zoo’s nursery.

The zoo said first-time mom Cinta’s maternal instincts “didn’t kick in,” so the cubs were moved to a nursery. There, they are being bottle-fed by human caretakers, and being kept warm. When Cinta rejected them, veterinarians worried the cubs’ body temperatures would fall too low without the warmth of their mother’s body.

“It’s not uncommon for first-time tiger moms not to know what to do. They can be aggressive and even harm or kill the cubs,” Mike Dulaney, curator of mammals and vice coordinator of the Malayan Tiger Species Survival Plan, said in a blog on the zoo website. “Nursery staff is keeping them warm and feeding them every three hours.”

Once the cubs are weaned, they will move to the zoo’s Cat Canyon. Cinta won’t recognize them after the long separation, so they won’t be reintroduced to her. They will, however, grow up together. Visitors to the zoo should be able to see them in early spring, the zoo said.

Cinta, 3, is the second-most genetically valuable female in the zoo population, and the cubs’ father, 15-year-old Jalil, is the third-most genetically valuable male among the group, the zoo said. Cinta and Jalil were recommended for breeding as part of the Malayan tiger SSP, which manages the health of the population in the 28 accredited zoos that care for the subspecies.

Jalil has four other offspring, all males, born at the Cincinnati Zoo in 2009. They were raised by their mother, Hutan, and are now living at other zoos.

The American Association of Zoos and Aquariums established the SSP program in 1981 to ensure the survival of selected species in zoos and aquariums, most of which are threatened or endangered in the wild.

In the wild, the tigers are only found on the Malay Peninsula and the southern tip of Thailand. They were classified as Indochinese tigers until DNA testing in 2004 showed them to be a separate subspecies, according to the the World Wildlife Fund. The Latin name of the tigers — Panthera tigris jacksoni — honors tiger conservationist Peter Jackson, according to the WWF.

Screenshot via YouTube