Other events in Baltic States

Photo: rigazoo.lv

Two Siberian tiger cubs – Thor and Odin – were born at the Riga Zoo this summer, LETA was informed by the zoo's information service.

Thor and Odin were born already in August 13, but the information about them was only made public now, when they are bigger and have successfully undergone the compulsory vaccination.

The tiger cubs were born to the female Siberian tiger Katrina, who gave birth to her first three cubs in 2011. However, agitated from the street noises, Katrina refused to feed her newborn cubs, so the only survivor – Klifs – was raised by the zookeepers. Therefore, the zoo staff did not announce the birth of Thor and Odin in order to observe the behavior of the tigress.

Tiger cubs will not be available for zoo visitors for a while, but from November 27, every day from 10 am to 1 pm anyone, who will want to see the cubs, will be able to watch them online from the zoo by visiting the "Lattelecom" homepage.

Tiger cubs were named in honor of the Norse gods – the thunder and fertility god Thor and Odin – the king of gods and god of war. Thor is the biggest of the two tiger cubs – on November 14 he weighed 15.2 kilograms, but his brother Odin – two kilograms less.

The Siberian tiger is the largest and one of the most endangered tiger subspecies. The main threats to this subspecies are poaching and deforestation. Wild Siberian tigers can only be found in Russian Far East and China. Currently there are less than 500 wild Siberian tigers and there is a risk that in the coming decades this species could become extinct in the wild. Approximately 200 Siberian tigers are being kept in zoos, thus, serving as a guarantee that this subspecies would not become extinct. There is an international breeding program for tigers; the Riga Zoo is also participating in this program. Although not all tigers are valuable for breeding, Riga Zoo tiger couple is considered among the best, which means that their descendants are highly desirable and their birth is an important contribution to the species conservation program.