4:19pm UK, Friday April 22, 2005

Most new mums can find breastfeeding their baby something of a daunting experience - so imagine what's it's like suckling two Bengal tigers.

For one young mother in Asia, it's become a sharing experience she would never have dreamt of.

180 tiger cub breastfed woman

Feeds last 45mins

Hla Htay not only breastfeeds her own baby boy, she also travels to Yangon zoo in Myanmar to feed the tiny tigers.

One day her cubs will be big cats, able to crush a man's head with one snap of their jaws.

However she told journalists: "The cubs are just like my babies."

"It's not scary at all. I needed to do something for the cubs because I felt really sorry for them".

Feeds last for 45 minutes.

Three cubs were born at the zoo in mid-March but their mother killed one and refused to nurse the others.

Vets rescued the other two but had little success bottle-feeding them.

"They had some difficulties sucking the nipple on the bottle," a zoo official said.

"When we tried to get the cubs to suck a lady's breast, it was alright."

The zoo says the breastfeeding will stop by the end of April or when the cubs start teething - whichever comes first.

Fully grown, the cubs will weigh around 40st and could be up to 9ft long.