Mexico City - Animal welfare activists and authorities in southern Mexico rescued two jaguar cubs found on their own in a farm field near the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, which is also home to a Mayan ruin site at the base of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico.

Famous for its magnificent Mayan ruins and its jaguars, the Reserve, which was established in 1989, is one of the largest protected areas in Mexico, covering more than 14% of the state of Campeche, and is part of one of the largest remaining tracts of forest in the Mayan region.

The two female cubs were found in a nearby field on October 5. It was not clear if their mother had died or abandoned them.

Both cubs weighed about 1.3 pounds (600 grams) and showed symptoms of severe dehydration. They have since grown to about 3.3 pounds (1.5 kilograms).

Mexico's commission for natural protected areas said Monday that it turned the cubs over to experts from two private groups that will raise them with minimal human contact. The cubs will be released back into the wild when they are 8 months old.