Three Bengal Tiger Triplets Photo Credit: AP/Hollywood & Safaripark, Udo Richter

On July 15th, three female fraternal triplet tiger cubs, with golden, white, and brown fur colors were born in Schloss Holte-Stukenbrock, Western Germany. Their parents - brown Bengal tigers Rani and Ratscha - both carry recessive white genes. On September 6th, a photo was released by the Hollywood and Safaripark where all five tigers reside.

Park Director Fritz Wurm was surprised that the three yet unnamed cubs were each a different color. Wurm explained that the rare golden fur of one of the cubs is a mix of brown and white.

Indigenous to Asia, tigers were once widely distributed across the continent. Over the last century, Bengal tigers are yet another of the world's creatures to come close to extinction. Today, there are fewer than 3,000 left in India and 4,000 worldwide.

Bengal Tiger Mother Rani with Her Three Tiger Cubs

In 1998, National Geographic created a film that provided an unprecedented insight into the world of the Bengal tiger. A year later, Oxford University Press put out a book by Valmik Thapar called Secret Life of Tigers . This year, the same author released Tiger: The Ultimate Guide.

This summer, a new movie called India Kingdom Of The Tiger came to the big screen and IMAX theaters around the country. The film is not only rich with culture and cinematography, it teaches a powerful lesson about killing this rare breed of animal.

“Showing India on the giant screen. I had to bring in something majestic, which was representative enough of the country and the Bengal Tiger is the best ambassador of India,” said Afsana Amarsy, the producer of the movie. Amarsy, who has now produced seven IMAX films, added, “In our IMAX library there has never been a film on India and neither a film on tigers. The colors and the cultures were matching.”

To learn more about this endangered species, go to Tigers In Crisis