Endangered tiger cub triplets born at safari park
The three Sumatran tiger cubs arrived at West Midlands Safari Park (WMSP) in Bewdley, Worcestershire, on 17 January.
They will spend their first few weeks alone with their mother, 13-year-old Dourga, before keepers enter the den to carry out health checks.
It is likely to be this summer at the earliest before visitors will be able to see the cubs.
Dourga gave birth in an indoor den where the cubs, who are born blind, have since been learning to suckle and taken their first tentative steps.
Head keeper of carnivores Kasha Carter said staff would not disturb the family until the cubs were about eight weeks old.
"We've got to let mum do what she wants to do," she explained.
"We just take a back seat and let her do what she wants to do because naturally that's what would happen in the wild. The mums spend about 70% of their time in the den nursing.
"Then we'll go in at eight weeks to do vaccinations like your cats and dogs at home.
"So we'll do microchip, vaccinations, health checks and we should be able to know the gender by that point as well."
The cubs will be named once their sexes are known - like all animals born at the park this year, their names will begin with the letter N.
Their father, 10-year-old Nakal, and their big sister, 18-month-old Lestari, can already be seen at the site.
The park said there were estimated to be fewer than 4,000 tigers left in the wild due to habitat loss and illegal poaching.
Only about 400 of them are Sumatran tigers.
The ones at WMSP are part of a conversation programme run by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria.
"The fact that we are part of this European breeding programme is fantastic and we get to contribute three new little members to it," said Ms Carter.
Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
First Sumatran tiger cub born at park in 50 years
Safari park welcomes baby giraffe
Endangered zebra Manilow born at safari park
West Midlands Safari Park
European Association of Zoos and Aquaria
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
UPI
8 hours ago
- UPI
On This Day, Aug. 14: U.S. reopens embassy in Havana after 54 years
1 of 7 | On August 14, 2015, after 54 years, the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, was re-opened amid a thawing in relations. File Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of State | License Photo Aug. 14 (UPI) -- On this date in history: In 1784, Grigory Shelikhov, a Russian fur trader, founded the first permanent Russian settlement in Alaska on Kodiak Island. In 1900, about 2,000 U.S. Marines joined with European forces to capture Beijing, ending the Boxer Rebellion against the Western presence in China. In 1935, the U.S. Congress passed the Social Security Act and President Franklin D. Roosevelt immediately signed it into law. In 1945, U.S. President Harry Truman announced that Japan had accepted terms for unconditional surrender. Japan formally surrendered Sept. 2, officially ending World War II. UPI File Photo In 1959, the satellite Explorer VI transmitted man's first satellite (orbital) view of Earth from space. In 1966, the unmanned U.S. Orbiter 1 spacecraft began orbiting the moon. In 1985, Michael Jackson paid $47 million at auction for the rights to 40,000 songs, including most of the Beatles classics. In 1995, following a long legal battle, Shannon Faulkner was admitted to the cadet corps of the previously all-male Citadel. She resigned from the South Carolina military school four days later. In 2003, a massive power failure spread through Ohio, Michigan, the northeastern United States and eastern Canada, leaving 50 million people in eight states and the province of Ontario without electricity for as long as two days. In 2005, authorities said the crash of a Helios Airways plane in Greece with 121 people aboard could have been caused by a sudden drop in cabin pressure. There were no survivors. In 2006, the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon ended in a truce, effective on this date, after 34 days of fighting. File Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI In 2013, authorities said hundreds of people were killed and thousands injured in clashes between Egyptian security forces and demonstrators calling for the reinstatement of ousted President Mohamed Morsi. In 2014, Major League Baseball owners chose MLB executive Rob Manfred to succeed longtime MLB Commissioner Bud Selig. In 2015, after 54 years, the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, was re-opened amid a thawing in relations. In 2017, about 1,100 people were confirmed dead with hundreds more missing after heavy rains produced a mudslide in Sierra Leone. In 2021, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, leaving more than 2,200 people dead and at least 12,000 injured. In 2023, former President Donald Trump was indicted for a fourth time, this time by a grand jury investigating whether he and 18 other defendants named in the 98-page indictment illegally interfered in the 2020 election in Georgia. In 2024, the World Health Organization declared mpox a global public health emergency after it spread from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to several other countries. File Photo by Chris Milosi/EPA-EFE
Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Los Angeles Times
Artist covers sculpture in plastic garbage at U.N. plastic pollution treaty talks
GENEVA — As nations began a second week of negotiations Monday for a global accord to end plastic pollution, an artist heaped piles of plastic waste onto a large sculpture in front of the United Nations office. Delegates to the treaty talks pass by the sculpture daily in a reminder of their responsibility to solve the plastic pollution crisis. The talks are scheduled to conclude Thursday. Benjamin Von Wong, a Canadian artist and activist, designed the nearly 18-foot sculpture called the 'Thinker's Burden' and built it with a team. It's his take on the famous sculpture by Auguste Rodin, 'The Thinker' in Paris. There is a male figure in deep thought, like Rodin depicted. But instead of sitting atop a rock, Von Wong's figure sits atop Mother Earth while cradling a baby and clutching plastic bottles. A strand of DNA intertwines them to highlight the health effects of plastic pollution. With the help of volunteers, Von Wong is adding plastic waste to the installation over the course of the negotiations to reflect the growing cost of inaction. He climbed a ladder Monday to reach the top of the sculpture and weave plastic bottles through the DNA. He put a plastic toy car in front. 'By the end of this week, we should have a sculpture almost completely drowned in plastics, however, the hope is, a strong and ambitious plastics treaty means that we can solve this problem once and for all,' he said. The Minderoo Foundation, an Australian philanthropic organization, was the largest donor for the project. Local nonprofits and community groups collected the plastic trash. Standing by the sculpture, Maria Ivanova, an expert in international environmental governance, said it 'wakes you up.' Ivanova is the co-director of the Plastics Center at Northeastern University in Boston. 'People don't change their minds because of facts. They do because of feelings,' she said. 'And this is where I think art is absolutely critical to shift the needle on policy.' Delegates and tourists stopped to ask Von Wong about his work and pose for photos in front of it. Michael Bonser, head of the Canadian delegation, called the artwork 'extraordinarily profound.' 'It gives us a sense, every day, of what we need to be doing inside the room, what we need to walk out with. And that's a deal that allows us to reverse the trend,' he said. 'That's going to be challenging, but I think it's possible.' About 3,700 people are taking part in the talks, representing 184 countries and more than 600 organizations. They are crafting the first global, legally binding treaty on plastics pollution. Many agree the pace of the negotiations needs to speed up. They arrived in Geneva with hundreds of disagreements to be resolved. The number of unresolved issues grew last week, instead of shrinking. European Commissioner Jessika Roswall said she's concerned about the lack of progress, and 'it's time to get results.' Roswall is commissioner for environment, water resilience and a competitive circular economy. United Nations Environment Programme Executive Director Inger Andersen told reporters it's still possible to agree on a treaty this week that ends plastic pollution. 'This is within grasp,' Andersen said. 'The window remains open to leave Geneva with this treaty.' McDermott writes for the Associated Press.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Top climate tech exec: The AC gap between Europe and America is becoming an economic liability
Picture this: it's a scorching summer day in the U.S. You wake up in a cool, comfortable room after a solid night's sleep. You head to work, where the temperature is optimised for concentration. Unless you step outside for a lunchtime walk, you're completely protected from the heat. Now picture the same scenario in an average European city. You wake up after a night of tossing and turning. You're sticky, uncomfortable, and already dreading the commute. Jammed on a crowded train, you suffer through a heavy delay as your city's transport infrastructure struggles in the face of extreme temperatures. If you're working from home, the only relief comes from a fan slowly circulating warm air around the room. The fundamental difference between these two realities? Air conditioning. In the U.S., 90% of households have AC. In Europe? Just 20% on average. In some countries, such as the UK, that number falls to less than 5%. At first glance, this might seem like a minor difference — fodder for TikTok skits or Reddit debates, where Americans and Europeans poke fun at each other's respective abilities to handle summer weather. But when the temperature rises, the impact on productivity is anything but trivial. Europe's growing productivity gap with the U.S — which has widened since the pandemic — isn't just a result of regulation, labor laws, or tech prowess. It's now also about climate. Or, more precisely, the difference in how we experience extreme temperatures. Heat is an existential threat to some European economies Europe is the fastest-warming continent on Earth. Across the primarily AC-free nations, heat waves can (and increasingly do) shut down schools, disrupt businesses, and make it impossible for people to function at their best. Employers are forced to shift working hours to protect staff from the heat, those with caring responsibilities struggle to look after the most vulnerable (children, the elderly) and families are caught in a daily battle for comfort and efficiency. This climate vulnerability isn't just inconvenient, it's a serious threat to economic competitiveness. Economists are already warning that Europe's failure to adapt to a hotter future could dampen its growth prospects. Tourism too looks set to suffer. As heatwaves become more frequent, particularly in Southern Europe, holiday-makers are starting to look elsewhere in search of more comfortable climes. This presents an existential threat to the lifeblood of economies, particularly across the Mediterranean. As the continent struggles to balance the demands of climate change and economic growth, heat is a growing liability. Public calls for AC are getting louder. In the UK, searches for homes with air conditioning have soared and AC is quickly becoming a middle class status symbol. In France, politicians like Marine Le Pen have jumped on the bandwagon, announcing a 'grand plan for air conditioning'. You might imagine that the solution is simple: copy the US playbook and roll out air conditioning across Europe. Tempting as it may seem, it's not quite that straightforward. The grid isn't up to the job Air conditioning is electricity-intensive. And most European nations don't have the grid infrastructure to support a shift of this scale. This fragility was laid bare in Italy this summer, when a heat-wave-induced surge in demand for AC triggered blackouts. Europe's national grids are straining at the seams: struggling to keep pace with the range of resilience upgrades required for modern consumption, and grappling with the volume of clean energy sources clamouring to connect. (It's a deep irony that the vast quantities of solar power brought about by hotter, drier summers — which could unlock AC capabilities without creating a new carbon burden — can't be properly harnessed due to grid connection delays.) Across large swathes of Europe, buildings are also older and poorly insulated. Planning restrictions are tighter and the culture of renting rather than owning complicates installation. Collectively, beleaguered grids and logistical challenges means those sweaty nights and lethargic days risk becoming part and parcel of European summers. To escape this incrementally hotter bind and unlock US-style levels of productivity that AC-enabled environments can bring, we need smarter infrastructure and more investment in it. That means using advanced modelling and AI to understand where grids are weakest, how demand is shifting, and where small, targeted upgrades could unlock big gains. It means simulating future heat scenarios to stress-test energy networks before a crisis hits or a capacity expansion is attempted. It means replacing guesswork with precision so that investments in cooling — and the infrastructure behind it — actually pay off. Only with this kind of intelligent planning can Europe move fast enough to adapt to a hotter future — without burning out its grids, budgets, or climate goals in the process. Air conditioning may be the fix, but without addressing the underlying infrastructure challenges, Europe will continue to sweat through the heat and suffer the economic consequences. And across the pond? Well, the Americans are just waking up from a great night's sleep. The opinions expressed in commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune. This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
