The Minnesota Zoo celebrates the birth of two new rare baby tigers

The Minnesota Zoo is celebrating the birth of two new rare baby Amur tigers.

Zoo curator Diana Weinhardt says they were born in late May, much to the joy of everyone in the office watching on camera.

"It was afternoon when she gave birth and I was watching from my office," says Weinhardt, "and a lot of people noticed that I had it on my computer so they all crushed in and we had various screens set up. There were meetings that stopped because she was giving birth."

She says it will be awhile though before they'll be out for public display.

" We do have a lot of native wildlife that carry various diseases, " says Weinhardt, "So, our tiger cubs will have a series of shots, just like you would it you had puppies or a kitten, and so they wouldn't be able to go out on habitat until fall."

Weinhardt says the cubs are part of the zoo's "Species Survival Plan," geared toward raising endangered animals. It's estimated only about 45-hundred tigers remain in the wild, with about 500 of those being Amur (ah-mer) tigers.