A wildlife surveillance camera in a Thai park captured a tigress walking through a rainforest with three cubs, wildlife officials said and released the video.
Photo courtesy of the World Wildlife Fund and the Department of National Parks of Thailand
A mother tiger prowls through the muggy rainforest of Thailand, her three cubs close behind. Emerging from the brush, the cats pass by a trail camera before vanishing again.
[–>
The mother tiger and her three cubs were filmed walking through the Upper Western Forest Complex, the World Wildlife Fund said in a Friday, March 3, news release. This region is one of the last two areas in Thailand where wild tigers still roam.
[–>
The brief footage shows the tigress with two cubs behind her. A third cub emerges from the foliage a few seconds later. The mother crosses the foreground and leaves the camera’s view.
[–>
The first and third cubs follow the mother, climbing off camera. The second cub stops near a tree and looks around, the video shows.
[–>
“With only 148-189 wild tigers in all of Thailand, a tiger sighting is rare and even rarer to see a tigress with three well-developed cubs,” the organization said.
[–>
On average, tigers have “two to four cubs every two years,” the organization reported. Cubs remain with their mother until about two years old. Outside of parental care, tigers are very solitary animals.
[–>
“I’ve seen many . . . videos of tigers, but this one really stands out,” Rungnapa Phoonjampa, the organization’s senior project manager in Thailand, said in the release. “It’s beautiful.”
[–>
The population of wild tigers in Thailand is “stable” but “still low,” wildlife officials said. Joint conservation and rehabilitation efforts between the World Wildlife Fund and Thailand’s Department of National Parks are underway.
[–>
The endangered species remains vulnerable due to poaching and a shortage of prey. Trail camera footage of tigers, their young and the big cat’s endangered prey is encouraging evidence of successful conservation work, the release said.
[–>
The video was recorded a “few months ago,” the organization said in the video description on YouTube.
[–>
Thailand’s Department of National Park did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment.
[–>
The Upper Western Forest Complex is a region northwest of Bangkok and near the Thailand-Myanmar border.
[–>[–>[–>
