Mama Sumatran tiger Bahagia, a resident of the Sacramento Zoo, gave birth a little bundle of striped joy named Castro Jr. earlier this month. C.J., as we're calling him now, won't be on public view at the zoo until later this Summer, but thanks to the Internet's largest baby photo repository, we can fawn all over him from the comfort of our desks.
The two-week-old C.J. will rely heavily on his mother for the next three months while he gains strength and figures out how things like paws and teeth work. The cub's father Castro Sr. was recently diagnosed with lymphoma in February and is currently undergoing cat chemo.
C.J. has four older siblings: one sister and three older brothers — one of which recently fathered his own cub at the San Francisco Zoo. Fewer than 500 Sumatran Tigers are believed to exist in the wild on the Indonesian island off the Malaysian Peninsula. Approximately 200 live in zoos around the world.
“The birth of any Sumatran Tiger is a great contribution to this critically endangered species,” Zoo's director Mary Healy said in blog post. “We are especially excited for this birth because it is the first time we have had a camera in the den, allowing zookeepers and veterinarians to keep a close eye on Bahagia and her cub.”
Without further ado, here's that warm, fuzzy video from inside Bahagia's den:
