Officials at Ohio's Toledo Zoo have double the reason to celebrate after welcoming twin Siberian tigers.
Toledo Zoo’s curator of mammals, Michael Frushour, announced the animals’ genders exclusively on TODAY Sept. 27, revealing they are both girls.
A set of twin Siberian tigers is also far from common.
Frushour called their birth “incredibly rare,” while noting there are only 5,000 tigers in the wild, with less than 500 of this particular subspecies in the wild.
“It’s really special for us to have, especially two girls, so it’s a really exciting day,” he said.
He also said the cubs and their mother, Talya, are doing well and said the animals would be available for the public to see in an exhibit "really soon."
"They're doing absolutely great," he said.
The zoo initially made the birth announcement on its Facebook page Sept. 21, alongside a video of the newborns with Talya.
"Hold onto your stripes!!! We’ve got paw-sitively exciting news. On July 20, we welcomed twin Amur tigers!" the zoo captioned the post.
"The cubs were born to mom, Talya, and dad, Titan. Talya and Titan had also welcomed twins in 2021," the zoo continued. "At their last exam earlier this month, the twins were 15 and 16 pounds. Talya and the playful cubs are doing well off-exhibit."
The zoo has also announced it has launched a vote to help name the cubs. The options are below:
- Calida “Fiery”
- Kima “Butterfly”
- Valentina “Strong”
- Kamilla “Calming”
- Ember “Spark”
- Ash “Dream”
- Maya “Dream”
- Nadya “Hope”
The two names that garner the most votes will be the winners, and the zookeepers will choose which cub gets which name.
"They're all beautiful names and the cool part about those names is they were all picked by the keeper staff who takes care of them," Frushour said.