After 13 years, tigress in SGNP delivers four cubs

Sanjay Gandhi National Park at Borivali welcomed four tiger cubs after a gap of 13 years. The last time cubs were born was in the year 2010. Srivalli, a four year old tigress has delivered four cubs at Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) on Saturday

Navi Mumbai

Tigress Srivalli mated with Bajirao and gave birth to four cubs in Sanjay Gandhi National Park on Saturday (HT PHO)

Sanjay Gandhi National Park at Borivali welcomed four tiger cubs after a gap of 13 years. The last time cubs were born was in the year 2010. Srivalli, a four year old tigress has delivered four cubs at Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) on Saturday.

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Rescued from Moharli last year,Srivalli was mated with Bajirao in December 2022. “We suspected she was pregnant and since then, she was kept separate. The gestation period in tigers is 93 to 110 days. We did not want to disturb her and hence we did not make her go through sonography. But since last 15 days, she looked heavy and we could confirm that she was pregnant. The doctors noticed that she had become silent and she preferred sitting at one place more, which further confirmed her pregnancy. She has delivered in a private zone naturally and we have not disturbed her. So we are not aware of the gender of the cubs,” Deputy Director (South) SGNP, Revati Kulkarni said.

Currently, SGNP has four tigresses - Lakshmi, Durga, Bijali and Srivalli and two tigers- Bajrang and Bajirao.

Bajirao, one of the two tigers in Sanjay Gandhi National Park (HT PHOTO)

Srivalli was rescued from Moharli range of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) after she killed one person there. The forest department then followed standard operating procedures and captured the tigress and brought her to Chandrapur Transit Treatment Centre (TTC) in February 2022. Later, she was brought to SGNP in the month of March. “She has come from wild and is not used to captivity. In many cases, after first delivery, the tigress gets confused about what is happening to her and repels the cubs. But Srivalli has adapted well to her changes. She cleaned her cubs by licking them and also breastfed them. It is now important that the cubs survive and hence they wont be disturbed and would be observed for few days now. Later we would also name the cubs,” Kulkarni added.

Meanwhile, Bajirao, who is nine years old, had killed eight people in Rajura in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra. After killing eight humans in a span of 21 months, he was captured by Rajura forest department under the Centra l Chanda division in Chandrapur Circle in 2020 and sent to the SGNP.