The Budapest Zoo has welcomed two Siberian tiger cubs, born on 13 April to tigress Agnes, the zoo announced on Monday. While the newborns remain out of the public eye for now, visitors will be able to see them in person in a few weeks.
Until then the zoo will share regular photo and video updates to give the public a glimpse of the cubs, who are currently under the exclusive care of zookeepers. The cubs’ gender will be determined during their first health checkup and vaccination, which will also involve inserting ID chips and separating them briefly from their mother. Naming will follow shortly after.
This birth is part of a breeding program coordinated by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) to help preserve the endangered Siberian tiger population. Agnes, born in 2021 in the Czech Republic, and Dáriusz, born in 2017 in Debrecen, were paired last year specifically for this purpose.
The arrival of the cubs marks a significant milestone—it’s the first tiger birth at the Budapest Zoo since August 2013. The zoo has a long history of housing tigers, with the first Siberian tiger arriving in 1937 and the first tiger cubs born as early as 1880.
Though visitors must wait a little longer to see the new arrivals, the zoo plans to keep the public engaged through ongoing updates about the tiger family, as well as information on tiger conservation, behaviour, and the zoo’s own rich legacy of tiger care.
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