But captive cats don't always approach mating as if the survival of their species depends on it. That's why the Smithsonian's National Zoo excitedly announced this week that its two , Kavi and Damai, finally bred.
Zoo officials have documented the careful courtship process on their . They said the tigers first met in the fall of 2012, and were initially only given visual access to each other, kept physically separated by a door. The two were finally brought together in December when Damai, the female, went into heat, and zoo officials prepared for a potentially volatile conjugal visit.
"When we first do an introduction we have everyone available there with hoses and carbon dioxide fire extinguishers, as well as people manning the doors so that we can try and separate the cats if things turn ugly," read a Tiger Diary entry last month. "If you have ever heard , you know that it can be difficult to tell between things going well and things going badly. This can be true with tigers as well, only much louder."
But the meeting wasn't nearly so explosive. Instead, when the door opened, Damai abandoned her flirtatious behavior of the previous few weeks and hid under a bench. Over the next days, keepers brought the cats together while Damai wasn't in heat. []
"We feel that these 'soft' intros really helped Damai understand that Kavi had no intention of hurting her," zoo officials wrote in a Jan. 2 post. "We would wait until both cats had settled down in their respective enclosures and then open the door that separated them. Then we watched what appeared to be a whole lot of nothing. But in fact, over the course of a couple of weeks, there was a gradual easing of tension."
By the time Damai went into heat again, she was more confident and relaxed with her partner, zookeepers said, and the two mated though Kavi did not emerge totally unscathed.
"There were still a few false starts and when the fur flew, it always seemed to be Kavi's fur, not Damai's," a blog entry read. "There was never any serious damage done, but still Kavi's patience and self control have been very impressive."
Zoo officials explained that for tigers, the breeding itself causes the female's ovaries to release eggs. So they'll know that Damai is pregnant if she does not go into heat again.
Follow LiveScience on Twitter . We're also on & .
Copyright 2013 , a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.http://www.tiffanioyo.ewebsite.com/articles/-reprint--1963-yearbook--fair-haven-union-high-school--fair-haven--vermont-read-online.html
http://friendfeed.com/muoquu/a29ba07d/adipositas-im-kindes-und-jugendalter
http://myrleraoy.blogbaker.com/2012/12/27/downloads-a-portrait-of-the-artist-the-plays-of-tennessee-williams-literary-criticism-series-book
http://blog.yahoo.com/_35NKYOXIYU4TM2ZS5F6X3GU4DY/articles/1000447
http://pricillambi.enjin.com/forum/m/8677421/viewthread/5348455-download-broken-apple-new-york-city-in-1980s
http://twitpic.com/bprx98
http://groups.diigo.com/group/laureniod/content/national-geographic-traveler-los-angeles-national-geographic-traveler-ebook-8051293
http://fernandayeyp.skyrock.com/3133765572-Thomas-Edison-in-West-Orange-Images-of-America-New-Jersey-e-book.html
http://kariqeo.jimdo.com/2012/12/27/downloads-journey-to-the-river-sea-ebook/
http://www.phungolsl.ewebsite.com/articles/around-the-north.-news---an-article-from--northern-ontario-business-ebook.html
http://ingercor.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-147.html
http://carrolopza.skyrock.com/3133765602-Downloads-The-Truth-About-Confident-Presenting-book.html
http://en.netlog.com/catrinaschnieders/blog/blogid=15884790
http://blogs.rediff.com/meaghanou/2012/12/27/passage-book-downloads/
http://blogs.rediff.com/elizmq/2012/12/27/download-manual-del-guerrero-de-la-luz-spanish-edition-ebook/
http://blog.yahoo.com/_IFZNYFCRA2KH27HIBCCZRJ5G74/articles/904351
http://gidahill.insanejournal.com/18907.html
http://heheedge.cibleblog.com/The-first-blog-b1/Download-Montana-from-Sea-to-Shining-Sea-ebook-b1-p42.htm
http://vewejuju.blogallerys.com/The-first-blog-b1/Download-Mordbuben-Klagenfurter-Kneipen-Krimi-German-Edition-ebook-b1-p38.htm