A Bengal tigress, an endangered species, the fourth born in captivity at the National Zoo of Nicaragua, is under special care due to the mother’s limited ability to breastfeed. The calf, still unnamed, is four days old and “we are feeding it with special milk for cats,” explained the zoo director, Eduardo Sacasa.
“She is very cute, we are taking care of her so that she survives. This is the difficult stage for her because of the colostrum (mother’s milk) that she did not suckle for her defenses”, acknowledged Sacasa, who has managed to reproduce other tigers. The specialist stressed that unlike her parents, the puppy “is not yellow-orange, it is a bit champagne-colored, very different”.
Rescued after being abandoned by a circus
With this there are four tigers that the zoo manages to reproduce. Although in the previous case, the white cub called “Snow”, daughter of the same yellow Bengal tigers, died of respiratory problems. The little girl died two weeks after being born at the end of last December.
Becoming a genetics center
The mother of both calves, Dalila, weighing more than 270 kilos, was rescued by the zoo after being abandoned by a circus in the interior of the country. The female underwent rehabilitation and treatment for five years to reproduce and this would be her second delivery. She previously had two abortions, according to her record within the center. Sacasa’s dream is that the zoo that is at the forefront in the country in the reproduction of the Bengal tiger “in the future will become a genetics center” to preserve that species.
The Bengal tiger, native to Asia, is in danger of extinction. This is due to hunting and the reduction of forests and is on the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which groups together organizations that protect the natural world.
