After 7 years, Delhi zoo sees birth of 3 white tiger cubs

Three white tiger cubs were born at the Delhi zoo on August 24 pic.twitter.com/uyWe9DirNR

— Express Delhi-NCR (@ieDelhi) September 1, 2022

The tigress and the cubs are in a separate enclosure in the zoo and are healthy, zoo officials said. “The cubs are reared by the mother. If we touch them, we are worried that the mother may reject them. We never interfere till at least one month. We simply provide food and water required for the mother, who is continuously nursing them, so things are looking good now. The mother and cubs are in a separate enclosure, with enough space to move,” said Dharamdeo Rai, Director, Delhi zoo.

A communication from the zoo added that the team at the zoo is keeping a round-the-clock watch over the tigress and the cubs.

The National Zoological Park is one of the zoos that participates in the conservation breeding of tigers, and “the birth of the cubs is a big step in this direction”, according to the communication from the zoo. Vijay the white tiger was brought from the Lucknow zoo at least six years ago, Rai said.

“The selected zoos that participate in the conservation breeding programme exchange animals amongst themselves for breeding purposes. The animal exchange ensures that there is no in-breeding. The breeding programme is also underway at the Delhi zoo for other species including rhinos,” Rai said.

The zoo recently saw the death of another tiger named Vijay. “We lost a very old tiger a few days ago,” Rai added.

On the seven-year gap, Rai said, “There need to be suitable pairs and the male and female need to accept each other. It’s also a bit of luck… sometimes tigers may conceive, but may give birth to cubs that are stillborn. This happens in the wild as well. Right now, we have a good population of male and female tigers. We are hopeful that within a year, we will have at least eight to ten tiger cubs.”

The Delhi zoo received two tigers from the Gorewada zoo in Nagpur last year, which is the last time there was an exchange with other zoos with the intention of breeding, Rai said.

According to WWF India, white tigers are white due to an expression of recessive genes. They have white or cream-coloured fur and black or grey stripes. Their eyes are usually blue, but could also be green or amber, according to WWF India.