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Amur tiger pair Minerva and Dmitri met face-to-face for the first time at Woburn Safari Park this month in front of excited visitors, giving hope they may breed as part of the park’s endangered species program.

Five-year-old male tiger Dmitri, who has been at the park since 2022, met Minerva (also called Vera), this month at the park and “could be seen fondly greeting each other and relaxing together shortly after their initial introduction, just meters away from excited visitors’ cars.”

Woburn Safari Park said keepers were “delighted” that the pair have “taken such a shine to each other” and are hopeful they may successfully breed.

Vera, 12, is ranked as one of the most important female tigers in the captive tiger population in Europe, having already successfully reared cubs that have themselves had offspring, “continuing this important bloodline” of endangered tigers, according to the park.

Video from Woburn Safari Park shows the pair meeting, playing, and relaxing together in the park’s Kingdom of the Carnivores section, where visitors can spot them through the summer.

Amur tigers, also known as Siberian tigers, are the largest cats in the world, and are listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as endangered, with a stable population of 265-486 in Russia’s Far East and a small number in China and possibly North Korea. Credit: Woburn Safari Park via Storyful