United Kingdom: Norfolk:
Malyshka, a tiger at Banham Zoo in Norfolk, England, has recently given birth to 2 cubs (believed to be the first to be born in captivity in the UK this year). The two Amur (Siberian)tiger cubs were born at Banham in mid October and are currently being observed using infra-red closed circuit television cameras. The zoo said that, Malyshka, the mother, is amongst the moist important females in the European breeding programme. Malyshka was previously at a Russian zoo and came to Banham zoo as a 2 year old in 2006. She has few relatives within the breeding programme (Breeding of tigers in captivity is closely monitored to ensure that the maximum amount of genetic diversity is preserved). It is believed that there are around 450 – 500 Amur tigers left in the wild