TIGERS: At the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum
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October 1, 2006
The cubs are starting to settle into their routine now. When I open the door in the morning, usually at 8, they march right on outside without a backward glance at mom, who chuffs goodbye at them. Chuffing is a noise tigers make to say “hello” or “I’m friendly” or sometimes “relax, it’s OK.” We have been feeding them breakfast now that they are pretty much weaned. Each of the cubs gets a pound of meat before going outside. It takes lots of energy to play for four hours!
So the cubs go outside, and Soyono stays inside for a little quiet time while Rokan does his training. Once Rokan has been trained he goes outside in the smaller tiger yard, and then we let Soyono go down to the door of the big yard. We no longer try and get her all the way outside and shut the door behind her, but leave her with access to the last few feet of runway. We don’t really know why she wants this little indoor space, but as long as she feels that she can go there whenever she wants to she is happy. She spends some time playing with the cubs in the yard and sometimes inside. The cubs know where she is and usually continue playing in the yard. Since the cubs are staying out until noon now they sometimes take a nap in the yard, often up on the top level, way in the back in the bamboo. These naps usually don’t last that long, maybe 15 or 20 minutes, and then they are up and running again.
What is really good news for the keepers is that all the cubs are coming inside without our having to chase them. Some days one of them will get distracted on the way in and mom will have to go out and tell them to get a move on but they are getting better and better. When they come inside, we are now putting them into separate enclosures so they aren’t competing for food. We do this at breakfast as well. They are only separated for a short while and often someone doesn’t finish his or her share but we let each cub have the opportunity to eat all it wants before opening the doors between them. If anyone has left food it gets eaten by either their mother or a sibling, usually Guntur. He is one of the reasons that we have started feeding them separately. Since he is bigger (40 pounds!) and stronger than the girls (about 30 pounds each) he could use his greater size to get most of the food. When we separate the cubs for mealtime, everybody gets enough.
After the tigers come inside and have lunch, they take a nice long nap. I think this is Soyono’s favorite time of the day. It’s nice and quiet and she gets some well-deserved sleep. After the siesta, it is an afternoon of playing inside before dad comes back in and everyone eats dinner. Rokan eats alone, of course, but at dinner we don’t separate the cubs and Soyono from each other but instead spread the food among the four rooms so that everyone gets a chance to eat. If it was all in one place, Guntur might try and chase his sisters away and keep it all for himself. This is natural tiger behavior even though it sounds kind of mean. One of the advantages of living in a zoo is that the competition is not so cut throat and your friends, the keepers, will give you a helping hand.
I hope everyone is enjoying the cubs and has had a chance to come and see them at the Zoo. I have moved one of the web cams to where they usually take their afternoon nap. I’m sorry it’s kind of dark but there is no way to light it without annoying the tigers. People have been asking how to tell them apart and as soon as I can get a good picture of all three I will post it along with the differences that we use to identify the cubs.
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