May 4
Now that the boys are a year old, they're getting pretty big. Their rate of growth has slowed down a little, though. Last month they gained about ten pounds apiece, whereas before they were packing on around 20 pounds each month! At that rate they wouldn't have fit through the doors soon. The latest weights are: Marah 164 pounds, Jalan 186 pounds, and Besar 180 pounds. While they look kind of grown up, they are still cubs and still very playful. The cubs were given a chunk of wood with poop from the Kids' Farm stuffed in a crack. They loved it! Jalan laid claim to it first, even though he usually gets pushed around by Besar, who is more dominant. He held his ground with his stinky log and refused to give it up until he was good and ready. Besar got it next, and then Marah, and they ended up taking turns with it all day.
The cubs have been getting their permanant teeth, as well. On Sundays before they go outside, each gets a bone to chew on. The bones have been helpful in getting the baby teeth to fall out. Sometimes the adult fangs start to dome in while the baby teeth are still in place so it looks like they have eight fangs instead of four, but the adult teeth push the little ones out pretty quickly.
Big brother Berani is in San Antonio now and was an immediate hit with the zoo staff there because of his good looks and sweet disposition. Because he is gone the cubs usually get to spend the whole day outside—after their training sessions, of course. Soyono, their mother, spends the morning inside alone enjoying some well deserved peace and quiet, and then joins them outside in the afternoon. Rokan, the cubs' father, is usually out in the smaller tiger yard all day. Occasionally we will switch things around a little and give Soyono a chance to enjoy a little solo yard time, which she thoroughly enjoys. She can call her boys in the next yard to let them know she is not far away and then indulge in that favorite activity of cats of all sizes, sleeping in the sun, undisturbed by rambunctious boys.
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