Orphan Tiger Cubs Find New Home at San Diego Zoo

Southwest Airlines flies people from coast to coast daily. But last week, they had some extra special cargo onboard.

On Sept. 11, a 9-week-old Sumatran tiger cub made the journey from the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., to San Diego, where he’d join yet another male tiger cub at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute reported.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BY6JoF7D6wC/?taken-by=smithsonianzoo

According to the Washington Post, the two tiger cubs were born a week apart.

For the first couple weeks of his life, the Sumatran cub was cared for by his mother, Damai. However, when he was 19 days old, zookeepers noticed that his weight was stagnating. Damai had started to behave aggressively toward her cub. Zookeepers had to step in with supplemental feedings to keep the cub healthy, according to the Smithsonian Institute.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BY6Gm-GjHOx/?taken-by=smithsonianzoo

The other cub, however, is a Bengal tiger cub, and his origin story is a bit more mysterious. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol found him while they were inspecting a vehicle entering the United States from Mexico. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took in the cub before ultimately sending him to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

Luckily for these two adorably fuzzy tiger cubs, the stars aligned. Zookeepers at the San Diego Zoo decided to take in the Sumatran cub, too!

Craig Saffoe, curator of Great Cats at the National Zoo, told WaPo, “It is a one-in-a-million shot that it would have worked out this way. … It’s incredible timing. They’ll grow up as siblings and learn to be tigers together.”

Although the tiger cubs will become solitary animals around 1 year old, Washington Post reported, for now they are spending their days in constant, cuddly companionship, roughhousing and napping the day away at the San Diego Zoo. Check it out in the video below!