A Sumatran tiger cub wandered around Tiger Trail at San Diego Zoo Safari Park for the first time Monday.
Suka was born in September and has been raised by keepers at the Animal Care Center.
The cub’s mother took care of him for the first few days, but zoo keepers noticed he was losing weight and his mother was starting to neglect him.
“We saw all kinds of tiger behavior,” said Lissa McCaffree, lead mammal keeper. “He was crouching and stalking and pouncing and trying to grab on to just about everything that was out here.”
His name means “loved” in Malay, zoo officials said.
He’s been under intensive medical care for almost a month, McCaffree said, so keepers are transitioning him slowly to the Tiger Trail exhibit.
The public can see Suka in the front exhibit at Tiger Trail, on the park’s Tiger Cam or at the Animal Care Center at various times of the day.
Poaching practices have threatened the Sumatran tiger species. The park has seven Sumatran tigers on exhibit. There are fewer than 350 in the wild.
