The two Sumatran Tiger cubs born at Dublin Zoo in May have been named Emas and Wanita following a nationwide competition.
Keepers sifted through hundreds of entries before settling on the winning entries from Sarah McCormack, Emmet McGlone, Gregory Friston and Martha McNulty.
The names come from the Indonesian for gold (Emas) and woman (Wanita).
The cubs were born on May 29th and weighed only 1kg and 0.85kg respectively. Now almost 5 months later Emas the male weighs in at 22kgs and Wanita the female 17kgs.
Both cubs are still suckling from their mother Sigra but are also being introduced to solids including chicken, pork and rabbit.
Dublin Zoo’s Gerry Creighton said Emas is a typical “boisterous and playful” male while Wanita has a “sweet nature” and is far more relaxed then her brother.
The birth of the new cubs marked a success for the zoo as the species is classed as critically endangered, with as few as 400 surviving in the wild
In the wild, male tigers traditonally live alone and only join females for mating, so contact with the cubs' father Kepala has been closely monitored.
Dublin Zoo has had a number of new arrivals in recent months, with the birth of a new sea lion pup and five endangered birds - two Waldrapp Ibis and three Military Macaws - earlier in the summer.
Last summer another sea lion pup called Ella was born during one of the zoo’s biggest baby booms - which included the birth of Budi, the first ever bull elephant to be born in Ireland, a white rhinoceros named Zukiszwa and Sandsteen the giraffe. In January a female giraffe called Neema was born.
In addition, the zoo population was increased by four Chilean flamingos, three maras, two yellow=backed chattering lories, six kune kune piglets, a leopard tortoise, a South American tapir and a pony.