Two white tiger cubs have a surrogate mom, a chimpanzee
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The two tiger cubs were separated from their mother after their sanctuary flooded, when a hurricane hit. Now the cubs are attended by a chimpanzee, which emulates her caregiver.
The chimpanzee, Anjana, is a two-year-old is helping her keeper China York care for the 21-day-old cubs at The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (TIGERS) in South Carolina. The TIGERS is a wildlife education organization promotes global conservation efforts via education and interactive programs.
The tiger cubs, named “Mitra” and “Shiva” were born during the Hurricane Hannah storm. The mother got stressed by the situation, the sanctuary area was flooded as a result the cubs had to be separated from the mother according to Dr. Bhagvan, founder of TIGERS.
The keeper China York tends to the cubs and Anjana seeing the keeper in action also helps her out. The cubs are almost inseparable from China and Anjana. There are pictures of them at the main article link and here, shows how much love they have for the cubs.
Dr. Bhagvan told Daily Mail:
'China's role means that she is care giver to hundreds of animals when they are born. Anjana has been with China, side by side, ever since she was born and has joined her in caring and raising baby animals. So she helped her and acted as a surrogate mother to these animals and she has done these same with these baby white tigers.
Anjana gives the cubs’ milk bottles and feeds them, lies with them and acts like a surrogate mother according to Dr. Bhagvan.
China also takes care of leopards, lions and orangutans in the sanctuary. After seeing China care for the animals, Anjana imitates her actions.
Dr. Bhagvan has high praises for China:
'She has just finished raising four lions and they were inseparable. She is a great assistant.'
Dr. Bhagvan can hire Anjana too as an assistant. It is great to see compassion among different animals.
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BeatsMe, yes, probably they will be moved out of the sanctuary when they get old. For now they are adorable little cats and hope they have fun like Anjana :)
that is the cutest chimpanzee I have ever seen. I was a mother to all of my children and to everyone elses children too. Also I was a mother to many many animals.
Thanks Sandy be the same. Keep up the good work :)
Such a cute story and great pictures :)
Thanks MistyHorizon2003. It is inspirational :)
I so love both chimpanzees and tigers, this hub is great :)
Absolutely beautiful pictures! China York has one of the, i believe, best jobs in the world! if it can be called a job!
A wonderfully uplifting feature which simultaneously brought a tear to my eye and a smile to my face. Thanks so much. The warm glow will keep me going for days....
Thanks Misty, they are great.
Compu-smart, you are right, she has the best job in the world :)
Hayley, yes, it is very inspirational, love to see this in nature.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh! I want one of each... awesome pictures CGull.
regards Zsuzsy
Sorry but I have to disagree. The whole set of photographs is a well staged publicity set up. I agree they are cute but....well the chimpanzee is an infant in the first place and should be with other chimpanzees and not humanised. It will suffer trauma when and if it is ever introduced to its own kind. It was probably taken from its own mother just to stage photos like these. A chimp of such an age could not be a surrogate mother to anything. Then there are the white tigers. Why are they not with their mother? White tigers should not be bred in the first place. It is irresponsible and no zoo or animal collection with any serious knowledge of conservation would breed such creatures.
Okay rant over...they are cute photos and you put your hub together well but don't believe all you read in the papers.
Thanks Peter, I agree with your statements they are good in the beginning when the mother discards them but in the long run they are better off with their own species. Thanks for your visit.
As an animal lover and Lecturer in Ethics, I was wondering if ethical issues can be at play here? I know what an animal lover will do and a responsible animal and nature care-taker. I can see some ethical dilemmas at play and a person can find him-/herself in some predicaments to try and answer what is right/ wrong and the best/ not the best for the animals, especially if you consider the comments by Peter Dickinson.
My first reponse is to also huge the cute Anjana, Mitra and Shira....and hope that heaven will be filled with animals and that we can be with them like Adam in the Garden of Eden. Then, I realize that they are wild animals, and is that human feeling of love towards them and treating them like "pets" and giving them almost a "human-nature" a good thing for them?
Yes, a difficult question indeed. All I know is that animals are special and we need to help and protect them the best we know how! Anjana is helping, if it is out of her own free will and it is not staged, then there is no harm in it, is there as she is already in human protection. What is the chances of going back into the wild? Maybe she was placed here, in this time to teach humans to be more compassionate?
Thank you Ziska for your comment. As orphans it is ok to take care of them but some point they should be in the jungle but who will take care of it? Other predators may hurt them, as long they get adequate care and are not exploited they should be fine.
This is the cutest thing ever!!!! How does one get a job like this?
Julianne, thanks, there are number of animal shelters across the nation, you can find similar jobs there.
I belive that this is wrong because you can clearly see the monkey dose what to play with them and they should be apart (if they want to if they are friends then leave them).
Peter Dickinson you tell the compelete truth!
i think so to
you speak the truth peter dixon
go james
i am not james
White tigers are not an endangered species, they are inbred for the entertainment of humans. I hate to think of the pain these white tigers will go through in their life. Maybe they wont have physical deformaties but they will have mental ones.I cant believe how sick and cruel people are to label them as endangered and make the public believe this crap. All for the sake of money.
that is soooo cute :)
If you read the article, and the other articles pertaining to this story, you would see that the cubs were taken away from their mother because the SANCTUARY which they were born in (NOT a zoo/breeding facility/anything of that sorts) flooded, the mother got distressed and therefore posed a threat to her newborn babies. It is not uncommon in the animal world for parents to kill their offspring in times of stress or when their lives may be in peril. Humans are pretty much the only animal species where parents risk their lives for their children. This probably has to do with our "human nature" and rational thought.
Anyway, my point is that they were born in a sanctuary and seperated because the mother became a danger to her babies. Anjana is merely copying human behaviour as she is, obviously, being brought up by humans. I don't agree with the humanization of apes but if this is a sanctuary, then it is most likely that Anjana is an orphan who was rescued and put in the care of Ms. China. Unless there are more orphaned chimps at the sanctuary, Anjana cannot have normal chimp interactiosn simply because there are no other chimps!
To peter Dickinson
The cubs mom disappeared in the storm if it weren't for T.I.G.E.R.S then the cubs would have died I think they did the right thing. And the chimp how do you know the mother could be at that place of just in a different area
All tigers are endangered, white tigers are a recessive gene with less biological/environmental benefit. Inbreeding of anything will cause undesirable traits to come out that are less likely to survive. Diversity is key...
BeatsMe 3 years ago
lol. The cubs are cute for now. But wait when they become tigers. I don't think Anjana will still be able to care for them. She'll probably be scared of them. :0