Minnesota Zoo's tiger cubs make their debut

MINNEAPOLIS -- Three tiger cubs are out and about, exploring their habitat at the Minnesota Zoo!

The cubs were born on Mother's Day to Amur Tiger Dari. Since then, the zoo says the two males and one female have reached a number of positive milestones, one of which was going out to explore their habitat on Tuesday.

While the cubs will have access to their tiger lair, their time on the public-facing side will be limited as they remain close to their mother. They might be timid in the beginning days of their explorations.

"This morning what happened is the cubs started to go out before mom, right when the door was open. And they were a little tentative at first, which is great because, you know, as much as we want them to run out and explore right away, their best instincts are to be a bit guarded, kind of take in what their surroundings are, are showing them, and then navigate through that with caution but with confidence," said zoologist Trista Fischer.

Fischer says the cubs were doing an excellent job of practicing their "tiger skills" like pouncing on each other.