01 March 2004 07:52
Endangered Siberian tiger gives births to sextuplets in China zoo
A Siberian tiger has given birth to sextuplets at a zoo in east China's Zhejiang province, boosting the
endangered species' population, which had been estimated at less than 400 in the wild, local zoo officials
said.
The tiger at Hangzhou Wild Animals' Park delivered her first cub at about 7:40 am (2340 GMT) Sunday and the
delivery lasted for about four hours, the Xinhua news agency said Monday.
That cub and all the other baby tigers survived, Xinhua quoted the zoo officials saying.
"We just couldn't believe it!" a zoo keeper said. "Giving birth to six is extremely
rare."
But it is not unusual for that four-year-old Siberian tiger, who had delivered seven cubs before, with six surviving,
according to the zoo.
The Siberian tiger is one of the world's rarest mammals. Fewer than 400 are believed to survive in the wild,
about 20 of them in China and the rest in Russia.
Zookeepers had to put three baby tigers into another cage as the parent tiger has only four nipples for four
cubs.
The three separated cubs are being fed with baby bottles and now urgently need fresh dog milk which contains similar
nutrients to tigers milk, the zoo officials said.
A local newspaper has opened a hotline to find substitute dog "mothers" for the cubs.
[Agence France Presse] |
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