Look at These Newborn Sumatran Tiger Cubs

The National Zoo is on a hot streak of endangered species births lately, with an extremely rare wild horse born a few weeks ago and now a pair of critically endangered Sumatran tigers born August 5th. The grainy security cam photos are all we've got because zookeepers are giving the mother, Damai, time to bond with her cubs. But holy cow, aren't they adorable?

The cubs are a good sign for the tiger subspecies, of which there are thought to be only around 400-500 in the wild. Limited to just over 58,000 square kilometers of territory in Indonesia—about 37,000 km2 of which is protected—the tigers greatest threat is the rapid loss of their habitat, which has historically been driven by the expansion of palm oil plantations.

As a great 2008 report by Uryu et. al explains, tigers require a ton of range, and as their habitats shrink, they become increasingly fragmented. Habitat connectivity is incredibly important for its productivity, and Sumatran tigers are becoming more and more isolated. It's a sad situation. Combined with the fact that not all tigers are of mating age, the IUCN says that the effective tiger population (e.g. those that can reproduce) is only about 40 percent of the total, with no local population numbering more than 50 individuals.

So while there are already only a few hundred Sumatran tigers left, they're isolated in even smaller groups. That opens them up to other conservation concerns, including worries about keeping gene pools diverse. Add to that the fact that the tigers are regularly killed, either by poachers or as the result of human-animal conflict, and it's clear why the population is in decline.

It's therefore heartening to see a pair of new Sumatran tigers be born, which the zoo says is the result of two years of courtship. Still, tigers in general are imperiled in the wild. Of the nine known subspecies of tiger, three have gone extinct in the last hundred years, and two more are on the brink. Maybe it's time we stop killing them for their bones?

@derektmead