Sheep’s milk feeds tiger cubs
Print Edition
Two Siberian tiger cubs at a zoo in central China’s Henan Province have had an unusual start in life — feeding on milk from a sheep.
Since being born on August 5, the cubs have been bottle-fed on a sheep’s milk six times a day.
“It’s too early for them to notice any difference,” said a member of staff, surnamed Cui, with the zoo in Zhengzhou City, capital of Henan.
The cubs, named Yu Mi and Hua Sheng, were separated from their four brothers and sisters after birth, as their mother was unlikely to have enough milk for her large brood.
“A female Siberian tiger has four nipples, and usually the number of cubs is no more than that,” said Cui.
“But this time, our girl gave birth to six. It’s a rare phenomenon and a mother tiger’s milk may not be enough for all her babies.”
So the zoo decided to let a sheep wet nurse two cubs.
“We took away the two cubs very cautiously when the mother tiger was outside,” said Cui.
Sheep milk will be Yu Mi and Hua Sheng’s main nourishment for the next 30 to 40 days, after which they will be gradually weaned off it. They have already grown to 30 centimeters.
Their names were selected from more than 200 suggestions provided by netizens. They are pronounced like “corn” and “peanut” in Chinese, but also indicate that they were born in central China.
Their wet nurse has provided milk for cubs in the past, when mother tigers have either lacked experience or showed little interest in their young.
The Siberian tiger is a rare subspecies of the famous big cat found in northeastern Asia. There are an estimated 20 wild Siberian tigers in China.
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