Brand New Baby Tigers

Melati and JaeJae were allowed back together after their previous three cubs grew up and went to new homes. They immediately rekindled their love, and the result is two new cubs, born on 27th June. On the videos from CubCam on the ZSL London Zoo website, JaeJae has obviously been allowed access to his offspring this time round. But Melati was a very cautious mother last time, and no one expected the cubs to make their public debut any time soon.

So when I finally managed to be free to go to the zoo on a day when it wasn't threatening to rain, as they were only 18 days old, I had no expectation of seeing them.

Imagine my surprise and delight when I found it was the second day they have been taken outside by their loving mum. Of course, she made her family at home in a dark corner of the enclosure, where the trunks of small trees and the leaves of bushes made them difficult to see. But we cub junkies just wait around till we get the sightings and the photos we crave. Therefore here we have Melati feeding her two tiny darlings:


One brave little soul is already wandering away from mum in this strange new world, safe among the long grass nearby: