CNN.com - White Bengal tigers make first zoo appearance

A white tiger cub, which is only known in captivity, taps its mother, Tikkoo, in the face at Delhi Zoo.

NEW DELHI, India -- Delhi Zoo's tiger enclosure is resonating with the playful growls of four Indian white tiger cubs for the first time since their birth.

The cubs, two males and two females who were born in August last year, have livened up the zoo in their first appearance in an open area.

The Delhi zoo is currently home to seven white tigers and the birth of the four cubs has been a boost to a variety and population that is teetering on the brink of extinction.

The Indian white tiger only survives in captivity because it does not camouflage itself well compared to the golden haired Bengal tiger, it is therefore often hunted down in the wild.

"Consuming about one-and-a-half kilos of chicken every day they don't need any artificial nutrients as the mother's milk is quite nourishing," zoo director B.S.Bonal told the Times of India.

Four rare white cubs, who were born on 5 August, 2001, were allowed this week for the first time to roam freely.

Tikkoo, the mother, is also being given vitamin supplements.

Although the cubs are getting larger by the day, zookeepers still have to keep a close eye on their health, one already has injuries inflicted by her mother and intestinal worms can also be a problem.

The last spotting of a white Bengal tiger in the wild was in central India in 1951 and it is from this animal that all white tigers in captivity today have descended.

The current Indian white tiger population according to the Times of India is descended from Mohan, the first white cub found in the Rewa area in 1951.

The next generation of white cubs was born in captivity when Mohan was mated with his daughter in 1959.