And again in Mykolaiv Zoo, namely, in the department of carnivores, there is a holiday. There are birthday girls in the Cat family. Today, on September 21, 2020, our beautiful sisters, Siberian tigers (Panthera tigris altaica) celebrate their anniversary. The names of the birthday girls are Penelopa and Agrypyna, they were born in 2005 in Mykolaiv Zoo. They are already 15 years old! This is quite a decent age, taking into consideration that in the wild tigers live 12-15 years. Thanks to the constant care and attention of employees, the life expectancy of animals in zoos is higher.
Our sisters' parents were called Alpha and Puzyr. The Siberian tigress Alpha was born in Russia and spent two-thirds of her life at Penza Zoo. There, in 12 years, she gave birth to 18 wonderful cubs and established herself as a caring mother. In Mykolaiv Zoo Alpha arrived in 2005 under the special European program of breeding the rare species of animals as the bride for the Puzyr. By that time, a wonderful Siberian tiger named Puzyr had been bacheloring in our zoo for 7 years. The two big cats, Alpha and Puzyr, were immediately connected. A couple formed, and three and a half months later, the zoo staff found two touching striped lumps, fed and dry, in a tiger's lair on “Beasts Island”. Alpha turned out to be a wonderful mother! Newborns were given very resonant names: Penelopa and Agrypyna.
As time passed, the beauties grew up and began to produce offspring and raise their children themselves.
But it also happened that the staff had to artificially feed the little cubs. For example, the tigress Penelopa, unfortunately, was not always a good mother and sometimes refused to feed her baby. And the workers of the department of carnivores fed the baby artificially. So, for example, people fed and raised the female Tanka who at the age of four months took part in the parade devoted to the Day of the city of Mykolaiv, thus representing our zoo.
But 2016 was rich in the birth of cubs. Sisters Penelopa and Agrypyna gave birth to two offspring and were good mothers. The total number of tiger cubs that year was 9 individuals. They were sent to other zoos. It was at one time a great event and a pride for our zoo.
The last offspring was brought by the tigress Agrypyna on December 25, 2017. She gave birth to two cubs, a male and a female. The female was transferred to the zoo "12 months" near Kyiv. And the male, who was named Avgur, was transferred to Odessa Zoo on October 17, 2019.
… Now you can see the birthday girls Agrypyna and Penelopa together with the male Helios in the exhibition complex "Beasts island". For tigers and lions in Mykolaiv Zoo open-air cages with rather big territory, a natural landscape, shady trees, pools in which tigers like to bathe very much, are constructed.
And in winter the Siberian origin of our cats makes itself felt. They love to lie in the snow or even wallow on the ice floe of a frozen pool…
Interesting to know! The tiger is the largest, strongest and most agile cat on the planet. And now it is extremely rare! Mykolaiv zoo, breeding Siberian tigers, makes the contribution to preservation of these beautiful animals!
We invite everyone to take a walk to our zoo to wish happy birthday to our tigresses Penelopa and Agrypyna!