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Virginia Zoo Is Naming Their Tiger Cubs

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If you’ve ever wanted to name a tiger cub, now is your chance! The Virginia Zoo will be auctioning off the naming rights for both male Malayan Tigers born in January.

The online auction began April 14, 2016 and will conclude at the Zoo’s upcoming fundraiser, “Zoo To Do”, on May 14, 2016.

If you are unable to visit the Virginia Zoo’s fundraiser, online bids can be placed at the following link: http://bit.ly/263LhpS . Bidding starts at $100. The proceeds raised from the event and auction will go to the “Defining Moments” capital campaign which funds the Zoo’s newest expansion, World of Reptiles.

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4_12901340_10154210228293054_5043478179320769504_oPhoto Credits: Virginia Zoo

The two Malayan Tiger cubs were born at the Virginia Zoo on January 6. The males arrived, about 12 hours apart, to parents Api and Christopher.

The cubs were born after the typical 103 days gestation to a healthy mother. However, with several hours of close observation, the Zoo’s animal care and veterinary staff were not comfortable with the level of care that first-time mom Api was giving.

After much internal discussion and consulting with the National Species Survival Plan Chair for Malayan Tigers, the decision was made to remove the cubs from the mother and hand-rear them.

(See ZooBorns original post introducing the brothers—which includes video! “Critically Endangered Tiger Brothers at the Virginia Zoo”)

The cubs are getting bigger by the day. Recently, they had their 12-week vaccines and each boy weighed-in at 25 pounds.

The boys have their deciduous set (baby set) of incisors and canine teeth. They are also still teething and enjoy chewing on their toys. At around 6 months of age, their baby teeth will fall out and adult/permanent teeth will come in.

The Malayan Tiger (Panthera tigris jacksoni) is a subspecies that is native to the southern and central parts of the Malay Peninsula. There is no obvious difference between the Malayan Tiger and the Indochinese subspecies. However, aside from their geographic differences, the Malayan Tiger is somewhat smaller in size. The Indochinese Tiger is noted as being smaller than the Bengal and Siberian Tigers.

The Malayan Tiger is classified as “Critically Endangered” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Major threats are: habitat fragmentation due to development and agriculture, commercial poaching and a domestic market for meat and bones for medicine.

With less than 300 of this critically endangered subspecies in existence, the birth of these two brothers demonstrate the Virginia Zoo’s significant contribution to a sustainable breeding population of the species, as well as the Zoo’s long term commitment to the conservation of the species in the wild.

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