On June 20, nine-year-old Sumatran tigress CINTA gave birth to cubs. The two cubs appear to be doing well. To give the animals rest, the cat jungle is temporarily closed.
"I am very pleased that there are young animals in the zoo after ten years again with the Sumatran tigers," says Dr. Ina Hartwig, head of department for culture and science, "The tigers CINTA and EMAS are no longer young animals and had no offspring yet. The fact that it worked out so quickly after their arrival in Frankfurt is due not least to the great experience and empathy of the animal care team. Now we have to keep our fingers crossed that everything continues to develop well," says Hartwig.
For the birth, CINTA has retreated into the litter box. "We still have to be patient before we get to see the little tigers really well. So far, we can only follow the action via a camera in the box. So we could also see that the first cub was unfortunately born dead in the afternoon. However, the two cubs born shortly thereafter are doing well by the looks of it. Only when the cubs are vaccinated in a few weeks and receive their chip, we can also look at the sexes. Now it is most important that mother and offspring build a strong bond to each other. Fortunately, that looks good so far, and father EMAS is also calm and friendly as always," says zoo director Dr. Christina Geiger.
Neither CINTA nor fourteen-year-old EMAS have had any offspring yet. "Especially CINTA is very high in the ranking of breeding recommendations. This is so important because we are trying to maintain the genetic diversity of Sumatran tigers in captivity. CINTA's lineage is underrepresented, so her cubs are extremely valuable genetically to the zoo population," explains Curator Dr. Johannes Köhler. "We had hoped for it, but it was far from certain that CINTA would become pregnant at all. Also, the fact that she took good care of her cubs right from the start is anything but a given in first-bearing big cats. And even now - a few days after the birth - things can still go wrong. But the good news remains: EMAS and CINTA can have offspring together," says Köhler.
The tiger subspecies living on Sumatra is extremely rare. Estimates of the World Conservation Union IUCN assume a maximum of 400 animals that currently still live in their ancestral homeland. The Frankfurt Zoological Society (ZGF) has been committed to protecting the lowland rainforests in the Bukit Tiga Puluh region on Sumatra since 2000.
Many endangered species such as tigers, orangutans and elephants live in this biodiversity hotspot. With proceeds from the voluntary conservation euro, the zoo supports, among other things, the work of the ZGF on Sumatra
