TIGER CUBS AT S.D. ZOO SAFARI PARK GET NAMES
Puteri and brother Hutan born in July; they will be off-exhibit for a few weeks
A pair of 2-month-old Sumatran tiger cubs born at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park have been given names — the female is Puteri, which means “princess” in Malay and the male is Hutan, which means “forest.”
But the public will need to wait a few more weeks before the cubs are put on exhibit, zoo officials said.
For now, Puteri and Hutan are hanging out with first-time mother Diana in an off-exhibit den.
“We look for signs of her carrying the cubs to other den areas. Currently, she is appreciating the moments the cubs rest,” a zoo spokesperson said in an email. “She’s then able to spend time in the outdoor habitat by herself.”
Wildlife care workers selected a group of names that had Indigenous meaning, and two donors selected the names from that group, zoo officials said.
The births of the critically endangered species in July were the first in seven years at Safari Park and came after zoo officials managing the Species Survival Plan recommended pairing Diana and Dumai.
Previously, four tiger cubs have been born at Tull Family Tiger Trail, which opened in 2014. One cub was born to Joanne and Teddy in 2015, and the couple had three more in 2016.
Over the years, 37 tiger cubs have been born at the park.
Safari Park now has six Sumatran tigers in its collection, including the two cubs. The San Diego Zoo is home to three Malayan tigers.
Officials say each survival plan is overseen by conservationists and seeks to ensure genetic diversity and healthy, self-sustaining populations of threatened and endangered wildlife. Tigers in the wild face pressure because of a loss of habitat and poaching.
Zoo officials said Sumatran tigers are considered critically endangered, with only 400 to 600 believed to be left on the planet.