Quintuplet White Tigers Crawl Into the Public Eye

May 27, 2014 -- Five white tiger cubs have made their first public appearance at the White Zoo in Kernhof, Austria.

Four females -- Lali, Lela, Lila, Lula -- and one male, Obama, were born four weeks ago.

“I don’t know why we named the boy Obama,” zoo owner Herbert Eder told ABC News today. “Maybe the president will read this news online. He is invited anytime to visit.”

While Eder had been expecting cubs as early as January, he had no idea how many were coming.

“This is not normal,” Eder said of the quintuplet birth. Burani, the mother of the five cubs, gave birth to a litter of four in 2012. The white Bengal tiger bore three in 2011.

Burani is a “very very excellent mother,” Eder said of the rare 8-year-old white tiger who came to the White Zoo from Germany in 2009.

The quints’ father, Papa Samir, “is a movie star,” Eder said.

Papa Samir, 6, originally from Slovakia, has appeared in several local sausage advertisements. All of his roles are shot inside the enclosure.

Eder said the zoo will raise the cubs for the next two years before determining where they will be relocated.

The White Zoo holds two adult female white tigers and one adult male.

These tigers are endangered because of their white fur, which leaves them with no form of camouflage so they are often picked off by other tigers.