Where do baby zoo animals come from? Maybe not exactly where you think
Two baby cub jaguars were born to Diego and Philomena at the Memphis Zoo. The baby girls behaved perfectly during their exam by the zoo vet Oct. 10, 2019. (Karen Pulfer Focht/Special to The Daily Memphian)
On a sunny Saturday morning in 2023, a crowd at the Memphis Zoo eagerly awaited the debut of the new Sumatran tiger cubs Nakal and Suci. And when those cute, furry little animals scampered out behind their mother, the members of crowd cheered like they were Memphis Grizzlies stars and aww-ed at how adorable they were.
But a lot had to happen for Nakal and Suci, who have since been moved to other zoos, to come into this world. It’s not as if their parents batted their eyelids at each other and found a dark room.
No, their mother Dari and father Gusti were matched as suitable breeding partners by the Association of Zoo and Aquariums and sent to Memphis to mate as part of an effort to protect a critically endangered species.
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