An Amur tiger who was fostered by another tiger family in 2017 has celebrated her first birthday with her Sumatran brothers and mother.
A party was held at Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Gardens in celebration of all five of the family’s birthdays – which all fall in July – but it marked a particularly significant landmark for Zoya, who moved from Philadelphia Zoo last year.
To celebrate, the family were given individual birthday presents, cards and ice cakes, while Philadelphia Zoo sent a new enrichment toy for Zoya to share with her foster brothers.
Zoya’s brothers Eko, Ramah and Gusti are all just one day older than their sister, birthed by their mother Lola in July last year.
Zoya’s biological mother did not display maternal behaviour towards her when she was born, so Zoya was moved to Oklahoma to have a better chance of enjoying social opportunities.
Cross fostering – the process of removing offspring from one mother and transferring them to another lactating mother with offspring of the same approximate age – is rare among tigers, so the people behind Zoya’s integration into her new family were delighted to see her accepted by Lola when she arrived.
The family has been together for just over a year now, and as the footage suggests, they’re getting along just fine.
