South Lakes Wild Animal Park is celebrating the arrival of its first Sumatran tiger.

The cub, Kadi, was born at the Dalton-in-Furness animal park and is being hand-reared by staff.

As well as being a first, the birth was also a huge surprise.

Delighted staff didn’t realise that Kadi’s mother, Alisha, was pregnant!

The park has been trying to breed tigers since 1996 and the cub is only the third to be born in Europe this year.

Kadi is being looked after by staff as Alisha was a first-time mum and had difficulty rearing the youngster.

She is being cared for in a specialist room so that the cold weather does not affect her.

Head keeper Gavin Clunie said “the little bundle of joy” needed feeding every two hours through the night to begin with.

“It’s meant lots of bleary eyes, and those huge claws constantly at your hands while you’re trying to feed,” said Mr Clunie.

“They are very large and very sharp.”

The Sumatran is the smallest of all surviving tigers with males averaging just over two metres in length and weigh about 136kg.

Females average just under two metres in length and weigh about 91 kilogrammes.

Its stripes are narrower than other tigers’, and it has a more bearded and maned appearance, especially the males.

Its small size makes it easier for to move through dense rain forests and it has webbed toes which, when spread, make Sumatran tigers fast swimmers.

David Gill, owner of South Lakes Wild Animal Park, said: “It took us by surprise because we’ve had a lot of mating activity over the years but actually no results, so we were starting to feel it was never going to happen.

“Then, totally out of the blue, one morning we heard a noise in the enclosure and there was a baby tiger.”

A new pen is being built at the animal park, and it is hoped that the public will be able to see Kadi as well as her mum and dad.

Sumatran tigers

* Sumatran tigers are named after the island in Indonesia where they originate from.

* The Sumatran is the most endangered tiger subspecies, with only about 400 left in the wild due to deforestation wiping out their habitat.

* Sumatran Tigers commonly prey on larger ungulates, like wild boar, Malayan tapir and deer, and sometimes also smaller animals, like fowl, monkeys, and fish. Orangutans could be prey, but as they spend a minimal amount of time on the ground, tigers rarely catch one.

Click on the link below for more photos of Kadi.