Tiger and Piglets – Cubs or Chops? Interesting facts

• Tiger and Piglets - California
• Tiger and Piglet - Thailand
• Bengal Tiger in China - with Piglet
• Tiger and Orang-utans
• Snow, or White Tiger
• Interesting Facts About
  Tigers

1) Tiger Cubs

A zoo in California, a mother tiger gave birth
to a rare set of triplet tiger cubs. Unfortunately, due to complications in the pregnancy, the cubs were born prematurely and due to their tiny size, they died shortly after birth.

The mother tiger after
recovering from the delivery suddenly started to decline in health, although physically she was fine. The veterinarians felt that the loss of her litter had caused the tigress to fall into a depression. The
doctors decided that if the tigress could surrogate another mother's
cubs, perhaps she would improve.

After checking with many other zoos across the country, the depressing news was that there were no tiger
cubs of the right age to introduce to the mourning mother. The vets decided to try something that had never been tried in a zoo environment. Sometimes a mother of one species will take on the care of a
different species. The only '
orphans'
that could be found quickly, were a litter of wiener pigs. The zookeepers and vets wrapped the piglets in tiger skin and placed the babies around the mother tiger.

Would
they become cubs or pork chops?

Take a look...

2) Another Strange But True Tiger Story - Thailand

This tiger has been the mother to this piglet for over a year now. Sai Mai, a tiger at Sriracha Tiger Zoo in Thailand's Chonburi Province has adopted a piglet

3) Also a Bengal Tiger in China - With Piglets

Three abandoned tiger cubs are being nursed by a pig at a zoo in China.

The three Bengal tigers reportedly enjoy their playtime with their piglet foster brothers and sisters.
A spokesman for Chimelong Xiangjiang Safari Park, in Guangzhou City, said the cubs had been rejected by
their mother. He said that the cubs had rejected bottle feeding so the zoo bought a sow who had just given birth and brought her to the zoo with her newborn piglets.
'The tiger cubs are tamely sucking the
milk, and the sow accepts her three new sons,' added the spokesman. 'We are feeding them meat as well now, and hopefully with the meat supplement they'll grow stronger'.

See also the story of a golden retriever dog who suckles a kitten

4) Tiger and Orang-utans

A pair of Sumatran tiger cubs and a set of young orang-utans, all abandoned
at birth, have become inseparable after sharing a room at an Indonesian zoo. The
friendship is not destined to last as tigers start eating meat when they are
three months old and will need to be separated from their new playmates

Intelligence of Orang-utans

At their conservation refuge on Kaja Island in Borneo, Orang-utans have been
learning some new behaviours by copying men.  Firstly they have learned to
fish.  They have adapted several human techniques, hunting fish with
spears, and also taking fish from unattended lines used by the men on the
island.

Secondly, the Orang-utans have learned to swim.  Previous naturalists
had not realized that these apes could swim, but pictures confirm that they are
comfortable swimming as they seek fish.  It seems their stroke is a cross
between doggy-paddle and the breast-stroke.

It is a shame these apes are facing extinction, it is tantalizing to wonder
how much they could learn given the right circumstances.

5) Pleased To See You!

Interesting Facts About Tigers

• The snow or white tiger is an endangered species found in the Himalayas, India and
  China.  Biologically the white tigers are the same species as the Bengal tiger.  Genetically it's rather like having brown hair (Bengal) or blonde hair (Snow tiger).
  Just as brown haired parents can
  occasionally produce blonde children, so dark Bengal tigers can occasionally produce snow or white tigers.
• There is only one species of tiger, Panthera tigris.  Variations
  are sub-species with well defined ranges and characteristics, but capable of
  inter-breeding if they meet.
• How many stripes do you thing a tiger has?  Guy guessed 20,
  Will guessed 50, we were both a long way out, tigers have over 100 stripes.
• Tigers have eyespots on the ears.  They display these eyespots in
  various ways so that other tigers can judge their mood, for example,
  playful, aggressive or sleepy.
• At the mouth of the river Ganges in Bangladesh is the Sundarbans
  mangrove forest.  This area house one of the largest groups of tigers
  in the world.  Moreover, unlike other tigers, this Bengal sub-species
  will kill humans who wander into its territory.  While old or injured
  tigers of other sub-species will kill humans when they are hungry, the
  Bengal tigers are the only group where fit an healthy tigers and tigresses
  become man-eaters.Relatively recently locals realize that tigers attack only from behind, thus
  if they have to go into the mangrove swamp, then a mask on the BACK of their
  head really does offer protection from tiger attacks.
• Cartoons featuring tigers often show them opening their claws like
  flick-knives.  There is a grain of truth in this caricature in that
  tigers do have sharp 4in retractable claws.  Incidentally, they have
  five toes on their front legs, but only four on the back legs.
• There are several collective nouns for tigers.  Wills favourite
  group name is an 'ambush of tigers', while Guy prefers a 'swift of tigers'.
  Other names for a collection of tigers are, a streak and also a hide.
  In truth, all are these collective nouns for tigers are obscure or unusual
  concepts because tigers are solitary animals.  Females and males only
  meet up briefly to mate, if you see a group of tigers, then its a female
  with her adolescent cubs.
• The names for the two genders of this animal are interesting, the female
  is the tigress, but the male, could it be tom? or bull?  No.  The
  correct name for a tiger father or son is tiger.  It seems a feature of
  the cat family where the name for the male is the same as the species Tiger
  - tiger and also Lion the animal, lion the name of the male.

Lion Lick!

Footnote:
Please send us your interesting pictures of
lions or tigers.