The Toledo Zoo is going to get a dose of energy this summer after the birth of two tiger cubs and the acquisition of two young giraffes.
The pair of Amur tiger cubs was born March 19. They have been thriving off-exhibit with their mother, 9-year-old Talya.
The babies have not been named. But both are healthy and growing fast while the zoo waits until after their next vaccinations before they are placed on exhibit.
“The female especially has got her mother’s spirit. She’s a feisty one,” Michael Frushour, curator of mammals, said. “The male seems really cool and collected.”
The zoo hopes to introduce the cubs to the public beginning June 12 in Tiger Terrace.
Father Titan, a 4-year-old animal who came to the zoo in 2019, will be kept separated from the trio but will also remain visible in the divided exhibit.
Talya, a first-time mother, has been showing all the appropriate maternal behaviors.
She delivered her cubs in the same area of the exhibit where she was born in 2011.
Talya and her brother, Viktor, were the last tiger cubs born here.
Mr. Frushour said Talya delivered four cubs, but one was stillborn and another died very shortly after birth.
“That’s not uncommon,” he said. “There’s nothing that she or we did wrong. She’s been an excellent mom.”
Then, about three weeks ago, a pair of one-year-old reticulated giraffes arrived.
The male, Winston, came from the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas, while the female, Zeena, came from the San Diego Zoo Wild Animal Park. They are to grow into a breeding pair as the zoo shifts away from the Masai subspecies of giraffe to the reticulated variety.
“Because of their age, they’re so active, especially on the new exhibit for them,” Mr. Frushour said. “They’re loving it.”
The pair have joined the zoo’s three adult Masai giraffes and are getting acquainted with the other animals in the Africa! exhibit. All the giraffes will be consistently out on exhibit, weather permitting.
There is no fear of cross-breeding as Winston will not yet be tall enough to attempt to breed with the much larger Masai females.
Neither will he nor Zeena be tall enough to access the visitor feeding deck for some time, though they are likely to accompany the others to it.
For both the tigers and the giraffes, breeding is done in accordance with recommendations from the Species Survival Plan, a program of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums that helps maintain genetic diversity in the captive population of its accredited facilities.
Giraffes are listed on International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources’ Red List as vulnerable, while Amur tigers, also known as Siberian tigers, are endangered.
First Published June 1, 2021, 4:00 a.m.
