For the first time, a pair of Canada-imported white tigers in captivity at the Saigon Zoo and Botanical Garden have given birth to three healthy cubs.
Lem and Luoc, the parent tiger and tigress which are being raised at the zoo in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, conceived and were delivered of the three healthy cubs.
Like their parents, the young cuddly tigers boast creamy white coatings with black stripes.
They weigh 3.6-4.1 kilograms almost a month after birth.
The runt of the litter has been separated from its mother so that special care can be given to ensure its maximal growth. Photo: Tuoi Tre
In 2009, the parents, aged around two then, were transported to the Ho Chi Minh City zoo from the Elmvale Jungle Zoo, which is located in Ontario, Canada.
The two members of the rare big cat family were not fruitfully bred until now.
The parent tigers and their litter belong to the magnificent Bengal Tiger breed, or Panthera tigris.
The separated tiger cub is quite playful and friendly and loves chewing on its caretakers’ fingers. Photo: Tuoi Tre
The variety, the second largest of all living tiger sub-species, is the only one of the six existing tiger sub-species that occurs in different color variations in the wild, according to cougarmountainzoo.org.
The Bengal Tiger is indigenous to India and Bangladesh and rarely seen in the wilderness.
The white tiger is a Bengal cat that has mutated genes, meaning that it is white in color with black stripes, the a-z-animals.com website said.
The imposing cats are verging on extinction.
At 4.1 kilograms, the separated cub now outweighs its two siblings which are being breastfed by their mother. Photo: Tuoi Tre
The world is currently home to only around 2,300 white tigers, most of which are raised in captivity in zoos.
Earlier, the Ho Chi Minh City zoo had successfully bred Indochinese tigers, or Panthera tigris corbetti, which is another tiger sub-species dispersed throughout the Indochina region of Southeast Asia.
The five young tigers born from the breeding, which don a yellow coating with black stripes, are currently tended to at the Saigon Safari Park in the outlying district of Cu Chi, some 50 kilometers from downtown Ho Chi Minh City.
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