Rare tiger cubs identified as two girls and a boy after health check

Three rare Amur tiger cubs have been revealed as two girls and a boy after they successfully passed their first health check at a wildlife park in the Highlands.

The endangered cubs were born in May to mum Dominika and dad Botzman at Highland Wildlife Park near Kingussie.

Keepers and veterinary staff carried out the nine-week-old cubs’ first health check this week and say the trio are doing well and will be named soon.

The new cubs are not on view to the public, spending their time in a private den with their mum, but visitors to the park can still see Botzman in the outdoor viewing area.

The cubs’ mother was born at Highland Wildlife Park in 2009 and gave birth to her first litter of cubs in 2013.

Botzman fathered three cubs in 2018 at Whipsnade Zoo and arrived at Highland Wildlife Park last October.

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland which runs the park, said there are just 500 Amur tigers remaining in the wild.

The tigers are now only found in isolated populations around the Amur river valley in the far east of Russia and on the north-east border of China.