Bhubaneswar: After almost 10 months, the white tigress Rupa gave birth to three cubs in Nandankanan Zoological Park’s enclosure No 21 on Friday.
According to sources, while one cub is white the other two are normal (red). The number of tigers at Nandankanan Zoo has increased to 28 after the recent birth of the three cubs.
The first cub took birth at 3.25 pm while the other two took birth at 3.33 pm and 5.50 pm respectively. Tigress Rupa was being tracked with four CCTVs installed around the enclosure, informed Nandankanan Zoo’s Deputy Director Sanjeet Kumar.
The zoo officials have also captured visuals of Rupa breastfeeding the three cubs in the enclosure.
Notably, tigress Rupa got pregnant after mating with the Royal Bengal tiger Rajesh. She delivered the cubs after 105 days post-mating. This is the second time that Rupa, aged 4.5 years, achieved motherhood.
Rupa and Rajesh lived in a safari where they mated and for the first time, Rupa got pregnant and delivered three cubs on March 11, 2022.
Rajesh and Rupa took birth from tigress Bijaya and tiger Roshan on September 22, 2018.
