July 29th is International Tiger Day - and the newest tiger at our National Zoo is having some fun!
"Metis" came to DC from the Indianopolis Zoo in April...he's a 5-year-old Amur tiger and his presence is a big deal. He was brought in to mate with the zoo's 9-year-old female Amur tiger, "Nakita". There haven't been Amur tiger cubs at the zoo since 1948 so tiger keepers are super-excited about the possibility of some babies!
When you go to the zoo, it'll be easy to tell Metis apart from Nakita and from the zoo's Sumatran tiger, Damai.
"At 360 pounds, he is the largest of all three cats. Nikita comes in second, tipping the scales at 275 pounds. Last but not least, Damai is the zoo’s most petite tiger, weighing in at 200 pounds."