Rare Tiger Cubs Born

Fort Worth Zoo Welcomes First Sumatran Tiger Cubs in Decades

Fort Worth Zoo in Texas has announced the birth of two female Sumatran tiger cubs, Barani and Malu, marking a first for the facility's history. The cubs were born on July 1 to first-time mom Ndari and dad Rakan and are the first tiger cub of any subspecies born at Fort Worth Zoo since 2008. They are also the first Sumatrans tiger cub born at the zoo and the first in any sub species born there since 2008, with fewer than 650 Sumatan tigers left in the wild. The zoo is participating in a Sumaturan tiger breeding program with other zoos across North America to maintain a healthy managed zoo population. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) notes that Sumataran tigers in the natural are threatened by poaching, illegal trading, a decline in prey species and habitat reduction.