HARBIN, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- A young Siberian tiger gave birth to four healthy cubs at a zoo in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province earlier this month.
The tiger, in Longsha Zoo in Qiqihaer, gave birth on Aug. 16. It is her first pregnancy. The first cub was large and took the mother a long time to give birth, said Cao Tianhai, the zoo manager. The other three were born normally.
The first quadruplet appeared weak, and zookeepers scrambled to find a female dog to feed it, he said. The tiger mother fed the other three cubs.
It is common for artificially-bred Siberian tigers to produce two or three cubs, but it is rare to see four cubs, said Cao, adding it is the first successful breeding of four cubs in Qiqihaer.
Tiger cubs nurse from their mothers for the first three to four months.
Siberian tigers, also known as Amur or Manchurian tigers, mainly live in east Russia, northeast China and northern parts of the Korean Peninsula. Less than 500 Siberian tigers are believed to survive in the wild, with an estimated 18 to 22 in China's Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces.
