Birsa zoo tigress Anushka’s three cubs can now see the world.
“Khul gayee aankh teeno cubs ki (eyes of the three cubs are now open),” said zoo vet Ajay Kumar on Sunday over phone from Ranchi.
Ajay said: “Tigress Anushka had given birth to three cubs on April 18 in Birsa zoo. For 14 days, the cubs’ eyes remain shut. It is a normal biological phenomenon.”
He added: “They completed 14 days got over on May 2 and our zoo keepers who went to the enclosure of Anushka found the three cubs with eyes open. It is a very joyful thing for us.”
Is it equally joyful for the tigress? The vet said: “These cubs with eyes open are seeing the world around them. Everything big or small is new for them. They will now be more playful. They will now try to be some distance away from their mother and this doting and protective Anushka will always wish them to be right next to her body. Let’s see how she reacts.”
He added that the tigress will be looking out for them more now because with open eyes they may slip away from her.
He said a tigress prefers her cubs to be sleepy because that way she does not have to keep constant watch over them. As the cubs can now see, they will be more naughty and a mother is bound to be extra watchful.
He added: “Now they will see their mother. In the past 14 days, the cubs used to only feel their mother. A tigress has her body temperature. A cub feels it and that is a cub’s attachment to its mother and this is called thermal sense.”
Chief conservator of forest-cum-director Ranch zoo D. Venkateswarlu when asked if this would change the sleep pattern of the cubs, he said: “I have not been a close observant of the cubs so you better ask our zoo vet Ajay Kumar.”
Ajay said: “A cub generally sleeps for 15 to 16 hours when it gets milk from the mother and his/her eyes remain shut. Now their eyes are open. There are many things to distract them. Open eyes do reduce sleep hours. A cub is growing up. And a growing cub shows changes. These cubs will show changes in the weeks to come.”
After six weeks the cubs will start eating solid food too, like chicken, he said.
