Birth of four tiger cubs from White tigress Rupa at Nandankanan zoo

Bhubaneswar: The Tigress Rupa gave birth to four cubs at Nandankanan today here.

Rupa was born at Nandankanan on 22-09-2018 from Roshan and Bijaya and presently it is 6-years old.

It is the third litter from tigress Rupa.

In its 1st litter, it mated with Rajesh and gave birth to three cubs on 11-03-2022. Two of its cubs died within a month and the surviving white female (Himanshi) was hand reared. It was sent to Bhagwan Birsa Biological Park on 09-07-2024 under animal exchange programme.

Again, Rupa was bred with Rajesh and gave birth to Amrita (NCT) and Shiva (White) on 06-01-2023. Both of these cubs are healthy and are at Nandankanan now.

In third litter Rupa gave birth to 4 cubs on 02-11-2024 (1st cub at 05:43 AM, 2nd at 06:22 AM, 3rd at 07:49 AM and 4th at 09:31 AM). This time the third litter was sired by Krishna (Melanistic).

Rupa is taking care of them independently, so the cubs have not been separated for sex determination.

The mother and cubs are under continuous CCTV surveillance to ensure their health and safety.