After four years without a tiger, Chittagong Zoo brought a pair of tigers and tigresses from South Africa in 2016. In a span of eight years now the number of tigers in Chittagong zoo is 19.
Among them, 15 cubs were born in the womb of one tigress. Among them, three cubs died.
The 9-year-old tigress is known as ‘Pari’ in the zoo.
On October 30, 2012 Chittagong Zoo tigress ‘Poornima’ died of cancer. Chittagong Zoo remained tigerless for four years after that.
In 2016, a pair of Bengal tigers was collected from South Africa for 33 lakh rupees. The pair, aged 11 and 9 months, have been named ‘Raj-Pari’.
On July 19, 2018, three cubs were born for the first time in Raj-pari’s house. Two of them were white and one orange-black striped.
The orange-black striped cub is named ‘Jaya’. One of the two white cubs died a day later. And the surviving white cub was named ‘Shubra’. The zoo authorities claim that it is the first white tiger in the country.
Finally, on April 9, three more cubs came to the Raj-Pari couple’s house, one of which was dead, the remaining two were female cubs.
Earlier, two cubs were born in Raj Pari’s house on December 30, 2019. One of them died the next day; The other is an orange-black tigress, born at the beginning of the pandemic and named ‘Corona’.
Then on May 6, 2021, three more cubs came into the royal-fairy family, two tigers, one tigress; All are orange-black striped.
On July 30, 2022, the princess gave birth to four cubs, all white. Of which three tigers and one tigress.
Chittagong Zoo Deputy Curator Shahadat Hossain Shubo said that two tigers were brought from Chittagong Zoo to Rangpur Zoo and two hippopotamuses were brought from there. At present the number of tigers in the zoo is 19. Out of which 13 tigresses and six tigers.
He said that out of 19 tigers, five are white tigers.
Raj-Pari’s first child of three is Shubra. Raj gave birth to a tigress in 2021 by pairing with that Shubhra.
The tigress has a problem with one leg, paws and claws too.
Deputy Curator Shubo said, “Inbreeding between family members can sometimes cause various health problems in the cubs. That’s what happened to this tigress. It is clubbed feet; ie bending the patella (spherical part) of the knee. resulting in a bent leg. In addition, two legs are attached. One less claw.”
He said, “More breeding could have been done according to the number of tigers in the zoo. But we are not going that way. If there is too much breeding now, ‘in-breeding’ may result in the birth of deformed cubs. So I am keeping a close eye on Pari for breeding.
“Cross-breeding (breeding with tigers that are not members of the family) will increase the chances of getting healthy tigers. So what we need is not a member of the royal family – a tiger.”
A tiger is two and a half years old when pregnant. Gives birth after 120 days. Female cubs stay with their mother for two and a half years and male cubs stay with their mother for two years. Thus a tiger can give birth up to five times.
Deputy Curator Shubo said, “We want to stay with the mother so that the tiger does not get pregnant. So after removing the cub from the mother, we give it a chance for breeding.”
He said, the average lifespan of a tiger is 16 years. Keeping the cubs with the mother for two to two and a half years and depending on age, a tiger can conceive a maximum of five times.
However, the Deputy Curator expressed the hope that Chittagong Zoo’s tigress ‘Pari’ will conceive one more time.
“Tigers born in zoos are called ‘captive breeding’. Since tigers are not born in the wild, they do not need to be kept with their mother for two to two-and-a-half years. Because of this, the ‘fairy’ got pregnant five times at the age of 9. So we hope the ‘fairy’ can conceive once more.”
