The Toledo Zoo hadone spooky sex reveal!
Michael Frushour, the Toledo Zoo’s curator of mammals, shared the images and the happy news live on theTodayshow. He explained to the NBC morning show’s Savannah Guthrie, Craig Melvin, Sheinelle Jones, Al Roker and Jacob Soboroff that twin tigers themselves are “incredibly rare.”
“There’s only 5,000 tigers left in the wild. This particular subspecies, there’s less than 500 in the wild,” he said. “So, this is really special for us to have, especially two girls. It’s a really exciting day.”
Talya birthed the cubs on July 20. She and dad Titan previously welcomed another pair of twins in 2021.
Asked how mom and the cubs are doing, Frushour revealed that all are doing “absolutely great.”
“We’ve done two check-ups on them and they were 14 and 15 pounds each,' he said. “So, they’re doing great with mom. Just like they would be in the wild, they’d be with mom in a dense space.”
Those hoping to see the tiger twins in person will have to stay tuned for a bit, as they’re not yet on exhibit.
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Toledo Zoo’s twin tiger cubs.Courtesy of Toledo Zoo
Courtesy of Toledo Zoo
In the meantime, zoo officials are asking the public to helpvote on possible names of the cubs.
Calida (Fiery)Kima (Butterfly)Valentina (Strong)Kamilla (Calming)Ember (Spark)Ash (Dream)Maya (Dream)Nadya (Hope)
Participating will cost fans $1 to vote for two names. All donations received through the tiger cub naming contest will go towards the care for and protection of the Amur tigers, both at the Toledo Zoo and globally.
The two names with the most votes will be used, though zookeepers will choose which cub gets which name.
This isn’t the first time the Toledo Zoo has done a public naming contest for their newborn animals.
Last November,twin polar bearswere born at the animal attraction to a 24-year-old female bear named Crystal and an 18-year-old male bear named Nuka. After a vote, the bears were namedKallik and Kallu.
Additionally on Wednesday, the Toledo Zoo posted a video showing more details of the tiger cubs sex reveal.
“We’ve got roar-some news…” they wrote, joking that “the cat’s out of the bag.”
source: people.com
