Learning About Beautiful Sumatran Tigers
I’ve been watching a number of BBC films starring Giles Clark, regarding the Sumatran Tiger cubs that were born in July of 2015 at the Australia Zoo. Giles, head of the tiger care at the zoo, had an epiphany of taking and hand raising the brother cubs in his home with the assurance the cubs would be able to show the world just how wonderful tigers were.
In addition, Giles wanted to talk to people and educate them about these amazing and beautiful wild animals and protect them from becoming extinct. From the first moment I saw the film of the cubs being born, I was hooked! See video below (click the picture).
Shortly after the twin cub’s birth, Giles decided to name them based on the markings on their fur – Spot and Stripe respectfully. Additionally, Giles made it a point to handle the cubs and to start caring for them in his home. This included daily and nightly feedings of goat’s milk almost around the clock! Giles also had to wipe the cub’s bottoms to stimulate them to go to the bathroom (just as their mother would do for them in the wild).
While the playful cubs stayed in Giles’ home, his wife and their two children were captured by the cub’s playful antics and amazingly fast growth! As time passed, Giles continued to play and care for the cubs and when the cubs were a bit older, Giles fed them slices of meat so the cubs would be used to using their back teeth for tearing and chewing up meat, just as tigers would in the wild.
After a couple of weeks, it became clear Spot was the more docile of the two cubs (except when eating!). On the other hand, Stripe was more the naughty or the troublemaker of the two by always getting into things and making a mess. Giles remarks on the video that Spot was the firstborn and was the cub that had a difficult time breathing right after his birth. Stripe did not have this issue; he had come out feisty and fiery right from the start and had maintained his aggressive personality.
Hand raising Twin Tiger Cubs is a Full-Time Job!
A couple more weeks go by, and Giles realizes the cubs are getting bigger every day and it won’t be long before the cubs will have to leave his home and return to the Zoo, inside the adult tiger enclosure. Giles makes the decision to introduce the cubs to some of the adult tigers to see if they will accept the two cubs.
The meeting between cubs and a female adult tiger goes very well (for both the cubs and the adult female tiger). Giles is very happy the meeting between the two has gone so well and believes the cubs won’t have a problem being accepted by the adults when the cubs need to be placed in the adult tiger enclosure.
A few days later, Giles decides it is time the cubs go for a swim in water so he takes them to the zoo pool and gets inside the pool himself to monitor and assist the cubs with swimming, in case there are any issues. Spot takes to the water like a champ! He paddles about the pool all on his own while Giles floats around close by. Stripe has a bit of a harder time with getting use to the water and swimming, so Giles glides over and coaxes Stripe on his back. After a few moments Stripe begins to relax and tentatively starts to swim (tigers are one of the few big cats that actually like the water, another is the jaguar, which is a very powerful swimmer).
As the days pass, Giles realizes the time has come for the
Cub Develops Infection in his Eye
Cub’s to be moved into their own enclosure. But before the move can happen, Spot develops an infection in both of his eyes that quickly becomes severe enough, that he is moved to a separate veterinarian hospital room away from his brother. A few days later, the doctor checks on Spot’s eyes and gives the green light on his right eye.
However, his left eye is not progressing as well as the doctor had hoped so she tells Giles it will require surgery to remove the left eye and replace it with a glass eye. After Spot’s surgery is performed, Giles checks on him and the doctor remarks that Spot has done very well during surgery. Giles is able to take Spot to a special, solitary enclosure until he has healed. Spot recovers very quickly and is doing so well, he is able to join his brother again in their enclosure.
Adorable Tiger Cubs Playing and Posing for the Public
Giles remarks how the cubs are raising awareness just by playing in their enclosure during the day. So much so, that the money they were making from the cubs just playing was already paying for their food, enclosure, and healthcare. At the end of the day, both Stripe and Spot have their paw prints put on colored blocks to sell to conservationists and the general public.
The money that is raised from these paw prints is put into the Tiger Conservation fund. The fund is created to raise awareness about tigers in the wild and the hope is to keep them from becoming extinct. Now that both tigers are doing well, Giles has agreed to allow journalists and the general public to see these amazing cubs and take photos of them.
“I want to express my sincere thanks to the following for making my post richer with video: Australia Zoo, BBC, Giles Clark, and YouTube for the amazing videos!”