Cameron Park Zoo is proud to announce the birth of two Sumatran Tiger cubs, one female and one male. The female was born at 1:30 pm on August 15th and the male was born at 3:30 am on August 16th.  This was the first pregnancy and birth for Maharani, the mother tiger, and unfortunately she rejected the cubs immediately after their births. Zoo staff members were standing by and were able to take over the care of the cubs, which are now being hand-reared in the zoo’s veterinary facility.

Photo credits: Cameron Park Zoo

Because of their rocky start in life the cubs have been under 24 hour a day critical care and they are currently thriving. The female weighed 1 lb. 13 oz. at birth and the male weighed 2 lbs. 5oz. Today the female weighs 9 lbs 9 oz and the male weighs 12 lbs 1 oz. Since the cubs are too young to be on display at this point, they will continue to reside in the veterinary facility and the zoo will post daily photos and videos on the Cameron Park Zoo website and Facebook page. Zoo staff members will begin allowing the cubs to spend supervised time on exhibit when they judge them strong enough to negotiate the terrain of the Tiger exhibit.

Cameron Park Zoo is asking zoo visitors to help name the cubs. Please vote online or in the Zootique at Cameron Park Zoo. Proceeds from the naming contest will go to the Cameron Park Zoo Conservation Fund that contributes to the conservation of endangered species worldwide.

Girl Names:
Indah- This is an Indonesian name meaning “Beautiful”

Utari- This is an Indonesian name meaning “Patient”

Boy Names:
Bugara- This was the name of a tiger that CPZ General Curator, Johnny Binder worked with while in Indonesia participating in a tiger conservation project.

Basuki- This is an Indonesian name meaning “to Flourish”