At 10 weeks old London Zoo’s tiger cubs have had their first health check. First the cubs were separated from mum Melati. Then it was time to catch them but with their arsenal of sharp claws and energetic personalities the tiger cubs sure made this challenging.
Zoo keepers were impressed with their ferocity though. Keeper Paul Kybett said “While I was so excited to see the cubs, I can’t say they were thrilled to see us – but it was actually a really good thing to see them wriggling and hissing at us, they were showing off a perfectly natural behaviour.”
The check-up was conducted by Nic Masters the chief vet at the zoo. Stomachs, paws and ears were all examined. The three cubs were all passed with flying colours.
With just 300 sumatran tigers left in the wild, these three cubs will help a breeding program for the critically endangered species. As such after the check nurse Jo Korn gave them a microchip. Their details can then be added to the studbook for this species.
As part of this check the sex of the cubs was determined. Kybett announced “It was so exciting to finally find out that we have two boys and a girl’
Channel 5’s milkshake program and ZSL will now run a competition to find names for the cubs.
Check out a video of the health check below
Photo Credit:ZSL
