Edmonton’s Valley Zoo names tiger cubs

Edmonton’s Valley Zoo names tiger cubs

By Jamie Hall, edmontonjournal.com
January 9, 2009

EDMONTON — Meet Taiga and Amba.

Unnamed until Friday, the Edmonton Valley Zoo’s tiger cubs – Taiga is six months old, Amba three months – were the subject of a contest where more than 1,000 entries were submitted.

The contest winners are two children who submitted the same two names for the tiger cubs, said Jan Archbold, a spokeswoman for the zoo.

Vivian Nelson, 10, of Edmonton, and Lane McMartin, nine, of St. Albert, each submitted the names Taiga and Amba, Archbold said.

Vivian and Lane don’t know each other but share an interest in tigers, Archbold said.

“Both of these kids are fascinated with tigers and they did their research and came up with these names that are fitting for these tigers – they have some meaning for Siberian tigers.”

Taiga is the forest area where the Amur, or Siberian, tigers live in Russia.

Amba is the name of a Russian conservation program which was established to stop poaching of tigers in the wild, educate the public and maintain a prey base to ensure their survival.

Later this month, Vivian, Lane and their families will get a behind-the-scenes tour of the tiger building and a close-up viewing of the tigers, who according to zoo officials, are romping in the snow between naps in the warmth of their habitat.

There are 330 to 370 Amur tigers left in the wild; 95 per cent are in the Russian Far East. Human causes account for 75 to 80 per cent of tiger deaths, who are most commonly poached for their fur.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Travel/Edmonton+Valley+names+tiger+cubs/1160221/story.html

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