Aurangabad, Dec 25 (PTI) Christmas brought joy to a civic-run zoo in Aurangabad in Maharashtra after a tigress gave birth to five cubs early Friday morning, an official said.

Tigress 'Samruddhi' and the five cubs, her third litter so far, are doing fine and have been kept under observation for the next 36 hours, an Aurangabad Municipal Corporation official told PTI.

"Samruddhi was born in Siddharth Zoo. She has given birth to 12 cubs so far, with the five born in the morning being the largest litter, and all 12 have survived. The father of these cubs was also born in this zoo eight years ago," Superintendent SS Naikwade said.

The Christmas addition has taken the number of tigers in the zoo to 14 from nine, he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)