This past November, Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo welcomed a litter of rare Amur tiger cubs. Now, the zoo has set up a live recording of the cubs on their website so we can see wthe little ones whenever we want!
(Okay, only between 9AM and 8PM EST, but still. )
As mentioned, the tiger cubs were born on November 25, 2017. Their mother is the zoo’s 10-year-old Amur tiger named Changbai. Originally, zoo staff had found out Changbai was pregnant through fecal hormone testing, but they weren’t sure if she would lose the cubs. Usually, tigers her age only have a 20% chance of carrying a pregancy to term. Somehow though, the babies beat all odds, being delivered exactly one month before Christmas. Unfortunately, however, two of them didn’t make it.
After the cubs’ birth, staff workers noticed that Changbai did not have any interest in nursing or being a mother. At this point, workers thought it best if the babies were removed from her care.
The two Amur tiger cubs were relocated to the seclusion room of the zoo’s hospital where they were housed in a heated nursery. Staff worked round the clock to ensure they had the very best care— and the cubs were always happy to see their caregivers walk through the doors.
In a statement, Gregg Dancho, director of the zoo, said, “We are hand feeding the babies five times a day. They are being given a feline milk replacement formula supplemented with vitamins. They are a little underweight, possibly due to the age of their mother and the fact that there were four kittens in the litter.”
Amur tigers (also known as Siberian tigers) are a critically endangered species, with only 500 remaining in the wild. You can tell an Amur tiger from other types by looking at its stripes. Amur tigers have fewer stripes than other types of tigers and the stripes they do have are fairly pale.
One month after being born, the two sisters celebrated their first Christmas with loads of colorful gifts.
And when the two kittens were in better health, the zoo revealed they had been given the names Zeya and Reka, in honor of their Russian heritage.
Zeya references the Amur-Zeya Plain in Russia, while Reka means ‘river’ in Russian and references the Amur River. Both are situated in the native habitat of Amur tigers.
Zeya is slightly darker in color (shown on the right in this photo), while Reka has a little heart over her right eye.
In the zoo’s statement, Dancho said, “The birth of these kittens brings a few more precious tigers to the population, which can help ensure the survival of these majestic animals for future generations.”
Most recently, the zoo set up a LIVE video feed of the tiger cubs. They invite viewers to tune in and watch the cubs’ at any time between 8am and 9pm Eastern Standard Time (UTC -5:00)— with the exception of a one-hour lunch between 12:30pm and 1:30pm.
When I heard about this live kitten cam, I obviously had to check it out. When I first tuned in, the babies were fast asleep for a nap. When I came back a little bit later though, I could see zoo staff preparing their meal.
Then I got to watch the adorable little buggers slurp back their bottles and get ready for bed.
If you’d like to take a peek at these rare tiger babies yourself, simply click here or make your way over to www.beardsleyzoo.com/tiger-cam.
There’s a camera button on the bar of the video that allows you to take pictures of the live stream, so if you see Reka and Zeya doing something extra sweet, be sure to share it with us in the comments!
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