More than nine months after Chhatbir Zoo’s much-sought-after Royal Bengal tigress Diya gave birth to three cubs in November, they finally got their names on Wednesday with Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh naming them in an online ‘naamkaran ceremony’.
Capt Amarinder, to mark the International Tiger's Day, chose the names for the three Royal Bengal Tiger cubs — one male and female — and named them as Amar, Arjun and Dilnoor.
“The cubs were given names as per the Central Zoo Authority’s guidelines. The Chief Minister selected the names and approved it during the online ceremony,” a government official told the Pioneer. As per the Central Zoo Authority’s guidelines, the name of the female cub must begin with first letter of mother name, and the name of male cub should start with the first letter of father's name.
“Dilnoor is named as her mother’s name starts from D, Diya; and the male cubs’ father’s name starts from A, Aman, they were named as Amar and Arjun,” said the official.
Sharing the development from his official Twitter handle, he tweeted, “Tiger is the pride of our country & we are home to over 70% of the world's tiger population. On #InternationalTigerDay, let us rededicate ourselves to improving their natural habitat. Sharing pictures of tigress Diya with her cubs Amar, Arjun & Dilnoor in Chhatbir Zoo.”
The three Royal Bengal tiger cubs, with orange fur of their father, were born to white tigress Diya at the Mahendra Chaudhary Zoological Park, Chhatbir village, on November 17. The tiger pair was adopted by the former Tourism Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu in January 2019.
Diya was born at the Chhatbir zoo in 2013 to a tigress named Dolly, who had given birth to two more cubs. While Lakshy remains in Chhatbir Zoo, the other one was moved to another zoo. Aman was born in 2012 and was acquired from Khanpur Zoo in 2013. The two tigers were paired and released in the same display enclosure in January 2016.
As of now, the Chhatbir Zoo, which is one of the largest zoos in India, has five adult tigers and three new born cubs.
The naming of the cubs has been pending since long. The forest department has been sending requests to the Chief Minister’s office for naming the new cubs. It has been learnt that the zoo staff has already recommended a set of names.