Three critically endangered amur tigers were born at Korkeasaari Zoo in late August. They don’t mind the frosty weather, as the species is used to extreme conditions.
From behind the snowdrifts, first one head emerges, then another, soon a third.
The fluffy animals are small and cuddly, but their coat colouring reveals that they are not to be approached without caution – especially under the watchful eye of the Siberian lemur.
The litter trio Ohana, Odeya and Oboi are amur tigers. They live at Korkeasaari Zoo, where they were born to Sibir and male tiger Tamur in late August.
As a species, the Amur tiger is highly endangered. 80 years ago, there were only about 40 individuals in the wild. Since then, thanks to conservation work, the population has been strengthened to a good 500 individuals, but even that is still small.
In 2016, Sibiri surprised by giving birth to three puppies on Korkeasaari, all of which were females. One of them moved to Poland after growing up, and two to Italy.
The Amur tiger is used to extreme conditions
Tiger cubs jump in the snow, jump on their mother and gnaw on the bag of food hanging in the enclosure. The triplets look identical to the untrained eye, but animal keeper Jonne Stenroth immediately recognizes who is who.
Now the personalities of the approximately 3.5-month-old puppies have slowly started to emerge.
– The Oboi male is clearly more comfortable by himself than the girls, and it is usually the first to get food. Otherwise, it is a very calm type. Among the girls, Odeya has been more timid than the others and a little more attached to the mother, but tigers’ personalities change many times when they grow up, says Stenroth.
Tigers and snow may not sound like a natural combination, but the Amur tiger is a weather-resistant feline: they come from the forests of Eastern Siberia, in the region of the Amur River. According to Stenroth, the puppies are not even frostbitten, but they don’t like loscals.
– The cover hair of puppies is not the same as that of adults, which means they get wet more easily up to the skin. They get cold in wet snow.
Ohana, Odeya and Oboi will be in the care of their mother in Korkeasaari for about two years, until they get new homes from other European zoos that participate in the Amur tiger conservation program.
Until then, both zoo guests and employees can enjoy the activities of the puppies.
– Puppies bring a lot of life to Kitsalaakso, because they are active and playful in a different way than adults, who don’t run around for nothing anymore, so to speak. These have plenty of power, and it’s great to watch their development when they grow big, says animal keeper Jonne Stenroth.