Tiger Cubs Have Way More Personality Than You Think

See what it's like to raise a couple of tiger cubs, including how much they eat and how they brush their teeth.

Transcript

00:00Here at the San Diego Zoo, our Malayan tiger cubs are now 7 months old.

00:07They weigh about 90 pounds.

00:09Connor and Christopher eat about 3 pounds of carnivore meat daily.

00:12They also get rats twice a week and femur bones twice a week also.

00:16That's how they brush their teeth.

00:18Connor and Christopher are very similar in some ways,

00:19but they also have distinct personalities.

00:21Connor tends to be the first one out.

00:23He tends to try new things quicker.

00:24He likes to play with a lot more toys.

00:27Christopher hangs back a little bit, you know, hangs out with mom a little bit more,

00:30but he also will easily take food from Connor if I'm not really careful on how they both get their food.

00:36But they get along great most of the time.

00:38Occasionally they have little spats when it comes to food.

00:41Connor loves things he can tear up.

00:42I mean, they both pretty much destroy anything they can get,

00:45but Connor is the one who likes to really tear things up,

00:49so we like to give them things like magazines and burlap bags and all sorts of different plant parts.

00:53They are like typical kids.

00:55They eat, sleep, and play.

00:56That's pretty much how it is.

00:57First thing in the morning they're a lot more active because they're looking for the treats that we put on exhibit.

01:01Then they nap for a bit.

01:02Then they wrestle with mom if she's in a good mood.

01:04And then they start the whole process over again.

01:06Mech is your typical tiger mom.

01:08She's at times very sweet and loving and playing with them.

01:11At other times she's disciplined them and teaching them how to be tigers and on their own.

01:15And as of a certain age she will be pushing them away, which is a normal process.

01:17So they need to learn to be independent, but at this point they still want to be around their mother.

01:22Well, tigers are amazing, beautiful creatures to work with.

01:24They're a top predator, they have an intelligence level that's just amazing, and they all have different personalities.

01:29And especially at the young age of the cubs they're just a joy to work with because they're just so much fun and they like to interact and play.