Cubs come out to play at Paignton Zoo

Two small Bengal tiger cubs born at Paignton Zoo are captured on their first outing since being born. These cubs would have been bred for educational purposes and hybrids of actual Bengal tigers. In the late 70s and early 80s zoos turned their breeding programmes into important conservation work. These two cubs eventually found their way to another zoo and Paignton now has Sumatran tigers.

The Bengal tiger is the national animal of India and Bangladesh. There are 36 species of cat in the world and tigers are the largest with the Bengal being the most common. Tigers are classed as an endangered species with an estimated 2500 left in the wild. Two famously depicted Bengal tigers are Richard Parker from the film Life of Pi (2012) and Shere Khan from the Rudyard Kipling story The Jungle Book with film adaptations (1967 and 2016).