PHOTOS: Bakso the Tiger Celebrates His FIRST Birthday in Disney World!
Last fall, Disney shared the incredibly exciting news that a baby tiger was born at Animal Kingdom. Baby Bakso made his official debut out in the park at the beginning of this year and he was, of course, the cutest thing we’ve ever seen!
Since then, we’ve been able to see the baby tiger grow up at Animal Kingdom. And today, Bakso hit a huge milestone — it’s his first birthday!
Bakso Celebrates His First Birthday
Baby Bakso turned ONE today at Disney’s Animal Kingdom!
The baby isn’t so baby anymore, as he has grown a lot over the past year. Just look at him when he first made his debut back in January of this year…
Photo: Disney
…and look at him now!
Bakso was born a year ago to mom Sohni, with whom he shares his exhibit on Maharajah Jungle Trek in the Asia section of the park. The adorable baby tiger drew huge crowds when he first arrived!
Today is the day Disney announced as his birthday celebration, but we were actually lucky enough to stop by the park on Wednesday and catch his birthday party taking place!
Disney set up the party to capture some special moments of Bakso celebrating his first birthday.
One of the main forms of enrichment and celebration were these massive ice block cakes!
Bakso and his mom certainly enjoyed cooling off with these colorful creations.
Here’s a look at the one with his name carved out of ice!
We also spotted a birthday banner in his habitat!
It looks like Bakso got his paws on that one and had some fun with it.
He was actually very into tearing up the banners!
Here’s another look!
Mom, Sohni, got involved, too!
It was very cool to see Bakso playing in the water with some pumpkins!
The perfect treat for a fall baby.
Bakso and Sohni were enjoying hanging out by and in the water!
They’re so precious together.
Check out them playing together!
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We also went by the park today to see the celebrations. The same decorations were up, but we also go to wish Bakso a happy birthday with this personalized banner!
Let’s talk a little bit about Bakso! His name is inspired by the Indonesian word for meatball. And, his first solid food he ate actually WAS a meatball!
The young tiger represents a major contribution to a declining tiger population, as there are less than 600 Sumatran tigers left in the wild and in managed care. Bakso is a beacon of hope for this critically endangered species!
Bakso was the first tiger baby born at Disney in seven years, as tiger births are pretty rare in managed care and take a ton of planning and coordinating.
These tigers are considered an “umbrella species,” meaning that conservation efforts for them will extend to other species within their habitat and provide cover to other key organisms and living things across the ecosystem.
Bakso needs his mom Sohni’s care until he’s about 18-24 months old, so don’t worry, he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
Just look at this adorable throwback Dr. Mark posted on Instagram of Bakso — he grew up so fast!
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And, here is more of the celebration from Disney!
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Stay tuned for more Disney World news and updates!
