ONE of the world's rarest tigers has given birth to a cub at a North Yorkshire zoo.

The tiny new Sumatran tiger made its appearance early last Friday evening at Flamingo Land, near Pickering.

Its arrival was the culmination of seven years of work by the animal carers at the zoo in their attempts to protect the critically endangered species.

Three years ago the same breeding pair, Bawa and Surya, produced triplets which have now gone onto other collections to start their own families.

There are as few as 300 Sumatran Tigers left in the wild - so Flamingo Land has increased the world population levels of the species by 1.3 per cent.

Zoo manager Ross Snipp said: “Although it is early days for our tiger cub, it looks to be very strong and we are very hopeful that this continues.

"Around a month ago our zoo and vet team believe that she had miscarried so we were all amazed to find the little cub with its parents on Friday evening."

Currently mum and baby can be viewed via live direct link to the special cubbing den at the tiger exhibit. As yet the sex of the cub remains unknown.

Zoo owner Gordon Gibb said: “Conservation is our passion and the survival of the Sumatran Tigers is one of our key missions.

"We are extremely proud of our efforts.”