JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After months of anticipation from visitors, three new tiger cubs made their public debut Thursday at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens.
Mina, Machli and Beppy, who were born in November, have been spending the last four months mostly behind the scenes so they could bond with their mother, Cinta.
They are the first Malayan tigers to be born at the Jacksonville Zoo.
Zoo President and CEO Dr. Jeff Ettling said they are a crucially endangered species with between 150-250 Malayan tigers remaining in the wild.
“Every birth that we have within our institutions are critical to the population sustainability,” Ettling said. “We are excited that we have three that we can help contribute to that ongoing population sustainability, and that they serve ambassadors for their wild counterparts.”
Animal care specialists who work with the tigers said Machli, the boy of the triplets, is the most adventurous, and he proved that on Thursday when he was the first to venture out into the main habitat. (Watch video below)
Mina, Beppy, and their mom joined Machli after a few minutes and the cubs could be seen pouncing and playing in the exhibit.
Tirzah Nichols, an animal care specialist, explained how the early interactions with the cubs went.
“We really gauged Cinta’s comfort level. What is she comfortable with. Then, just approaching the area where she had the babies, we were very delicate about that,” Nichols said. “We did a lot of monitoring over video camera footage to make sure that they were healthy, nursing.”
Patty Howell, who got to name Machli as part of a live auction, finally got to see the little cub in person on Thursday.
“Machli is a name from Hindu that means fish. The female Machli in India raised like $100 million for the sanctuary. I was thinking, ‘We can use some of that good mojo here.’ So I named him Machli,” Howell said.
Mina, who was named by votes from the public, had a scary moment when she broke one of her legs while playing with her siblings.
At her most recent wellness check last week, the animal care team and veterinarians assessed how her leg was healing after surgery. They said she is doing well.
“We gave her back to mom and the siblings all bandaged up and mom was totally great with it,” Nichols said. “She investigated it, but she did not have any problems, and she continued to nurse and care for her like a normal cub.”
Until now, visitors have only been able to watch the Malayan tiger cubs on the zoo’s live camera as they ate, slept and cuddled with their mom.
For the last two weeks, the cubs have been testing out the award-winning tiger habitat’s back trail, where visitors could catch glimpses of them.
But on Thursday, they graduated to the main exhibit.
The zoo’s last big cub debut was made in July by Jaguar “Banks” last summer. He’s now 10 months old -- and has grown!
Banks was the first Jaguar cub born at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens in the last 10 years.
Zoo staff warned visitors that it will take some time for the cubs to adjust to their new environment here, so it’s uncertain how much of them visitors will see early on.