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Mother Mayang with her newborns: The names of the two kittens have not yet been decided
Photo: Tierpark Berlin
Finally good news from the Sumatran tigers from Tierpark Berlin: tiger mother Mayang, 11, gave birth to two cubs at the beginning of September.
The offspring was born on September 1st, as the Zoological Garden Berlin AG announced.
This is "a glimmer of hope for the preservation of the entire animal species," it says.
According to the information, the father is the cat Jae Jae, 13, who only came to Berlin from France in January of this year.
The tiger has already provided for healthy offspring several times and got along with Mayang right away.
A pregnancy of the tigress was therefore already suspected, as it was said.
Mayang gave birth to quadruplets four years ago, but they had a knee deformity.
This led to problems in the movement sequence.
According to the information, the cause was a genetic disease of the tiger father Harfan, who has since died.
The first two animals were euthanized in early July, and the other two in August.
According to the information, the two new cubs were born a few hours after each other in a den.
The team at the zoo in Berlin-Friedrichsfelde discovered the offspring via a camera installed there.
A spokeswoman said it would probably be a few more weeks before the small Sumatran tigers could be seen.
A naming will also take place in a few weeks.
According to the zoo, fewer than 400 of the animals live in the rainforests of Indonesia, which is why they are in acute danger of extinction.
One of the reasons for the threat is the expansion of plantations.
"For highly endangered animal species such as the Sumatran tiger, offspring is particularly important," explained the zoological director of the zoo, Christian Kern.
The zoological institution sees it as its duty to prevent the extinction of this animal species and "to preserve such fascinating animals as the Sumatran tiger for future generations".
mgo/AFP/dpa
