Rare Sumatran tiger born at National Zoo

Damai and her new tiger cub.
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/Smithsonian's National Zoo)

The Smithsonian National Zoo's Sumatran tiger population increased by one on Tuesday afternoon, when 8-year-old Damai gave birth to a cub.

Sumatran tigers are critically endangered, and it's estimated there are just 300 to 400 living in the wild. Her keepers have been watching Damai via closed-circuit cameras since she went into labor, and the cub looks to be nursing, moving, and breathing normally, the National Zoo said in a statement. "This is such an exciting time for us, not only because we have a cub who appears to be doing great, but also because this animal's genes are extremely valuable to the North American population," Craig Saffoe, curator of the Great Cats habitat, said. "Now that we have had success breeding Damai this year and in 2013, it means that our keepers' patience with the introduction process, their willingness to study the cats' behaviors and learn from them, and our discussions with colleagues here and at other institutions has paid off. The result is this amazing little cub."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.