For the first time in its history, camera traps in a Thai national park have captured some oh-so-cute footage confirming that the area is now home to a Bengal tiger with a trio of cubs in tow.
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The discovery was made in Kaeng Krachan National Park where, according to the park’s Facebook page, camera traps were placed in mid-2024. They showed some initial success; per AFP, one such trap snapped evidence of a female tiger with a single cub last year.
However, other camera traps had ended up damaged by heavy rain, but recently, their footage was recovered and revealed the female tiger had in fact been raising three cubs.
In the footage, the mother and her litter can be seen briefly stopping by a camera, before the mother walks off and her cubs go bounding after her – one of them adorably clumsily.
It’s not a surprise if they were a little unsteady on their feet. In a statement sent to AFP, the chief of the park, Mongkol Chaipakdee, said: “Based on the timeline, we estimate the cubs are now about six months old.”
The national park has also been running a competition on social media to name the three cubs, perhaps hoping to rival the viral success of Thailand’s most iconic (and bitey) pygmy hippo calf, Moo Deng. Suggestions in the comments so far have included references to the protected forest in which the tigers live, including Rain, Water, and Fog. Others have put forward Mouse, Flamingo, and even Coconut Milk. We know which ones we prefer.
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If they reach adulthood, the cubs will add to the six adult Bengal tigers known to live in the park, including their mother. It would also be a success story for both the Bengal tiger population (a group within the Panthera tigris tigris subspecies) and the tiger species (Panthera tigris) as a whole, which is classed as endangered.
The IUCN estimates that around 2,608 to 3,905 adult tigers remain in the wild, with the population thought to have plummeted by 97 percent over the course of the 20th century. Hunting, poaching, and habitat loss are all thought to have contributed to the decline.
There is, however, cause for hope. A recent study found that India had managed to double its tiger population in just over a decade, while on the Russia-China border, reintroduction efforts spawned a love story for the ages and a litter of Siberian tiger cubs to boot.
Source Link: Spot The Rare Trio Of Adorable Bengal Tiger Cubs Born In A Thai National Park
