Is it too much to ask that I could have a few minutes with the cubs, too?
Five white tiger cubs recently born in a zoo in Austria, were shown to the public on Monday. Zoo owner Herbert Eder says it is rare for a tiger to bear so many cubs in one litter, and if they do, the offspring do not often survive. (May 26)
Aaaaaw! Me too!
You live sort of near there, don’t you? Maybe you should visit that zoo. 🙂 You could send Jerry a photo as a “poor second” for him.
Near is relative… I’m at the westernmost end of Switzerland, Austria is at the east end of Switzerland. Train fares are too expensive for me, never mind hotels and food. In my financial and health conditions, such a trip alas is not feasible, much as I’d love to. It would also mean abandoning my hubby (who has increasing memory problems) and my own little “white tiger” http://imageshack.com/a/img580/3721/7c25.jpg
Lovely kitty! More like silver than white.
I know how much comfort cats can be when one is unable to travel.
Thank you, yes she is! Actually, she does have a lot of white, especially on her tummy. She’s a Silver Tabby and of a small size, about the size of a six-month old kitten. She is eight years old (soon to be nine), full of fun, very affectionate, often quite mischievous, devilishly clever, and often watches TV with fascination – especially wildlife programs dealing with birds and with big cats!
and if they do, the offspring do not often survive.
And so I suspect http://www.worldculturepictorial.com/images/content/dog_adopts_tiger_cubs.jpg>a scene like this played out some weeks before the video.
It doesn’t help the world’s captive tiger population to continue propagating mutant types such as these. That zoo should be ashamed to show these to the public.
We’re all mutants.
If this is just a coat color mutation is it really a big deal? Might not be well adapted to life in the jungles of India, but these are not going to live there anyway. As captive animals, where’s the problem?
Here is the problem:
http://bigcatrescue.org/abuse-issues/issues/white-tigers/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_tiger#Genetic_defects
Yikes. I was all ready to just say ‘outcross the white tigers to restore some genetic diversity’ but after reading that it was clear that that would not solve the problem. Thanks for an eye opener about this issue.
It appears that it isn’t the case for all white tigers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_tiger
Is one of them named “Obama”? The writing 24sec in seems to suggest it…
Max the Magnificent, who usually ignores everything on my computer screen, sat fascinated before this short video.