White Tiger Population Gets Boost

A white tiger has given birth to sextuplets, boosting the endangered animal's population, which had been estimated at 210 worldwide, Buenos Aires Zoo officials said Tuesday as they allowed the cubs to play in public for the first time.

The cubs' mother, Bety, delivered three males and three females on Nov. 18 after a 3 1/2-month pregnancy, said zoo spokeswoman Alejandra Durruty. The cubs, some of them with black-striped bodies and piercing blue eyes, are healthy and developing normally, she said.

It is the second time Bety and her mate, Conde, have become parents since they arrived at the Buenos Aires Zoo in 1997. A year and a half ago, Bety gave birth to triplets.

The tigers — which are not a separate species but are white-colored Bengal tigers — are among only a few in South America and about 210 in the world, officials said. Hunted nearly to extinction in their native Asia, few white tigers now remain in the wild and most are protected in zoos.

"We are absolutely thrilled," said Durruty. "Giving birth to six is extremely rare. We're happy they've had so some much success reproducing in captivity."

On Tuesday, dozens of children watched from behind plexiglass as the cubs cavorted in their pen, occasionally scrambling beneath Bety as she walked. At one point, Bety bent down and picked up a cub in her mouth while the others wrestled in the grass.

Miguel Rivolta, the zoo's chief veterinarian, said the fuzzy-faced cubs are being fed with baby bottles and now weigh between 6 and 13 pounds.

The animals are expected to begin eating meat in their third month and eventually to grow to more than 7 feet in length. Males can weigh more than 550 pounds and females up to 350 pounds.

Officials said they are planning a contest in which schoolchildren be will given the opportunity to name the cubs.