It’s a quadruplet!

Chattogram Zoo has been graced with the birth of four white tiger cubs, born to tiger couple Raj and Pori.

The mother and the cubs have been kept in separate confinements for now, said Dr Shahadat Hossain Suvo, deputy curator of the zoo.

"The cubs and their mother will be provided with intensive care and kept out of visitors' eyes for a while," he said, adding that necessary support will be provided for their health.

The sex of the cubs is yet to be ascertained since the process usually takes a few weeks. After that period, the baby tigers will be given names, he said.

According to the expert, a mother tiger can become ferocious and ruthless after giving birth, which may put the lives of the cubs at stake, even lead to their death.

At present, the number of tigers in Chattogram zoo has increased to 16.

On July 19, 2018, Raj and Pori gave birth to the country's first white tiger cub who was named "Shubhra".

Raj and Pori were brought to the zoo in 2016.

The white tiger or bleached tiger is a leucistic pigmentation variant of the Bengal tiger, Siberian tiger and hybrids between the two.

For a white Bengal tiger to be born, both parents must carry the unusual gene for white colouring, which only happens naturally about once in 10,000 births.

Dark-striped white tigers are well-documented in the Bengal tiger subspecies (Panthera tigris) as well as have been reported in several other subspecies, reports UNB.