Photos: Tiger Cub Born At Minnesota Zoo Reunited With Mother

APPLE VALLEY, MN — The Minnesota Zoo announced this week the birth of an endangered Amur tiger cub on its campus. The female cub was born on April 26 at 7:58 p.m. She is the first offspring for mother, Sundari (Sun-dar-ee), who was born at the Minnesota Zoo in June of 2012. Father, 7-year-old Putin (Poo-tin) has sired two other litters in Denmark, where he lived before coming to the Minnesota Zoo.

Zoo officials said the newly born endangered female tiger cub has been reunited with her mother, Sundari. The cub was pulled for back-up hand raising when Sundari, a first-time mom, "wasn’t showing the necessary level of care needed at birth":

Although the cub needed initial care from zoo staff, it is always the goal at the Minnesota Zoo for the (animal) parents to raise their own young, if at all possible and zoo staff have been working tirelessly to keep the cub and mother connected. Through continued efforts of showing the cub to Sundari through a protective barrier and Sundari showing no signs of aggression towards the cub, the decision was made to reunite the mother-daughter pair.

As of now, things are going very well, zoo officials said. Staff are closely monitoring the interactions and the health of the cub to ensure she has enough milk.

Additional feedings by zoo staff are still periodically occurring to maintain the cub’s good health, but at this time both the cub and Sundari are doing well, according to zoo officials. The zoo said it will have a webcam up for the tiger "soon."

Images via Minnesota Zoo