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Forget meerkat manor – Kent Online has launched its own fly-on-the-wall look at two of the county’s more unusual animals.Every two to three weeks we will be updating you on the progress of Sinda and Bira, Port Lympne Wild Animal Park’s pair of Siberian tiger cubs.
At 13 weeks, they may look like a pair of fluffy little tiggers only interested in playing and food.
But these beautiful tiger cubs are already starting to show their claws.
In the first of Kent Online’s exclusive video diaries cataloguing the progress of Siberian tiger cubs Sinda and Bira at Port Lympne Wild Animal Park, it is clear the pair are well on the way to becoming boisterous young carnivores.
Keeper Richard Barnes said the smaller of the two, Bira, is emerging as the most outgoing of the two, showing little fear as she bounds around her enclosure.
Sinda is a little more cautious – and a little more feisty with her keepers – but still loves a scrap with her sister, and a cuddle with mum.Watch our video of the tiger cubs by clicking on the link to the right of the screen >>>
Their parents, five-year-old Ingrid and 10-year-old ‘softie’ Tugar, are taking good care or the pair, putting paid to early fears the adults might reject their offspring.
The cubs are still feeding from their mother, but are starting to show an interest in their parents’ diet of horse, chicken and turkey – but have learned not to try to sample anything on Tug’s dinner plate.
Mr Barnes said: “They are starting to nibble bits of mum’s meat, and licking her face after she’d been fed, but they know not to go near dad’s food.
“They tried it once and he said ‘no’ straight away, so I don’t think they’ll be trying that again.”
The cubs currently weigh around 10kilos, and will grow rapidly over the coming weeks as their mother’s rich milk sustains them and encourages growth.
Don’t miss the next instalment of the Tiger Video Diaries in two weeks' time.