Bhubaneswar: The white tigress Rupa delivered four healthy cubs at Nandankanan Zoological Park on Saturday. Their birth, occurring in the early hours of November 2, signifies another triumph for the park’s tiger breeding program and a beacon of hope for conservation initiatives.
Rupa, a six-year-old born in Nandankanan on September 22, 2018, to parents Roshan and Bijaya, has had two previous litters. Her initial litter, fathered by Rajesh, was in March 2022, yielding three cubs. Unfortunately, only one survived; this cub, named Himanshi, was nurtured by hand and has been recently relocated to Bhagwan Birsa Biological Park through an animal exchange program.
In January 2023, Rupa’s second litter, also sired by Rajesh, brought forth two cubs, Amrita and Shiva. They currently reside at Nandankanan, aiding the zoo’s preservation endeavours.
Rupa’s latest litter, fathered by the melanistic tiger Krishna, consists of four cubs born sequentially between 5:43 AM and 9:31 AM. Rupa is tending to them with great care, and they are under continuous CCTV monitoring for their well-being. The zoo staff has not yet determined their genders as they have not been separated from their mother.
The arrival of these cubs is a source of delight for the zoo staff and visitors alike, marking a significant milestone in the conservation of white tigers.
Recently, a tiger was transferred from Maharashtra’s Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve to Odisha’s Satkosia Reserve as part of the NTCA’s inter-state tiger relocation program. The inaugural inter-state tiger translocation in India, from Madhya Pradesh to Satkosia in 2018, did not succeed for various reasons.
