Experts from the Centre for the Rehabilitation and Reintroduction of Tigers and Other Rare Animals in the Primorye Territory’s village of Alekseyevka have recently conducted a routine examination of the two tiger cubs removed from the wild in early 2018. That is when they learned that one of the cubs, both of which had been previously identified as females, was, in fact, a male.

“Indeed, it does happen, when the testes of wild cats, like domestic cats, fail to descend into the scrotum early on,” said Sergei Aramilev, director of the Amur Tiger Centre. “That is why this mistake was made during the initial short examination. It is good, however, that the truth came out just now, as this news will fundamentally change the choice of location for the animals’ release into the wild. All in all, the cubs are thriving; after a brief separation due to the examination, they were moved into spacious enclosures to further perfect their hunting skills.”

This is not the first time experts incorrectly identified a tiger cub’s gender. “In 2001, for instance, the only time to exactly determine the predator’s gender was right before the animal’s release into the wild,” Aramilev added.

The examination proved the animals to be perfectly healthy. Now the cubs are about 1-1.3 years old; the girl weighs about 80 kg, while the boy weighs about 90. The young predators hunt animals on their own, and properly react to humans by instantly taking cover and getting out of sight upon spotting or hearing people nearby.

The two cubs and their mother were captured near the village of Aleksei-Nikolskoye. In October 2018, experts decided to relocate the tigress from the rehabilitation centre to a zoo. If the rehabilitation process continues to go smoothly for the cubs, they will be released in the wild in spring 2019.