A Royal Bengal Tiger and her cubs are doing well at Dhaka Zoo after the mother gave birth to the triplets on Saturday night.
This is the second time the tigress named Promila has given birth at the zoo. Last year in May, she gave birth to another set of triplets.
Earlier the mother was separated from the male tiger Raja and taken to confined quarters for the birth.
The curator of the zoo Dr Aminur Rahman said, “They will be kept in confinement, out of the sight of visitors until the cubs develop their eyes.”
It takes about two weeks for tiger cubs' eyes to develop completely.
The mother and her cubs will be kept in the separate cage until the cubs are around six months old, the curator said.
“It will not be possible to determine the sex of the cubs until a few more weeks. Also, the first few weeks are a critical period for the babies and any human contact during this early period is dangerous”, Dr Aminur said.
The curator explained that if human beings come into contact with the cubs now, the mother could reject the cubs as they might acquire some human scent. The mother might then stop caring for her babies and without a mother's care at this stage, the cubs are unlikely to survive.
Meanwhile the zoo authority has increased the food allotment for the mother tiger. In addition to the regular diet of 12kg meat per day, the lactating mother is also being given 2 litres of milk each day.
Dhaka Zoo has a successful record of breeding tigers in captivity. Since it was set up in 1974, about 38 tigers were born in the Dhaka Zoo.
The breeding has often led to problems of accommodation for the zoo with its limited facilities and funds. Most of the tigers born here have been sent to zoos overseas or elsewhere in the country including Dulahazra Safari Park to ease the accommodation problem at the zoo.
The number of Royal Bengal Tigers at Dhaka Zoo now stands at 14 and all of them were born in this zoo.