Adorable triplets make surprise appearances on trail cameras in Thailand. Watch them
In 2024, a Bengal tiger mother was spotted in Kaeng Krachan National Park in Thailand.
She was followed by a single cub, exciting researchers as they looked through footage from trail cameras positioned throughout the protected land.
Then, the region was hit with heavy rains for a large portion of the year, making it nearly impossible to retrieve the remaining cameras, park officials told AFP in a statement.
The cameras were finally retrieved earlier this year, and officials were shocked by what they saw on them.
The tiger mother didn’t just have one cub, she had three.
“This is the first time we have recorded a tiger raising three cubs in the national park,” park chief Mongkol Chaipakdee told AFP.
Park officials posted videos of the intrepid trio on Jan. 29 in a Facebook post. The videos were originally recorded in July.
Tigers are an endangered species, with fewer than 4,000 left in the wild and decreasing numbers, according to the IUCN Red List.
Tigers are the largest big cat species, and adult Bengal tigers, a sub-species, can reach nearly 10 feet long from head to tail and weigh more than 550 pounds, according to the World Land Trust.
Tigers are solitary animals except when a mother is with her cubs, according to the World Land Trust, and they hunt by stalking their prey and waiting in ambush to attack from behind.
“Bengal tigers are not only powerful predators, but they are also the indicator of the abundance of nature,” Kui Buri National Park chief Atthapong Pao-on told the Bangkok Post after a tiger was spotted in his park for the first time in a decade at the beginning of January.
Thailand is home to one of the few breeding populations of Bengal tigers, and Kaeng Krachan National Park is known to provide a home for at least two male tigers, two female tigers and two tigers whose sex hasn’t been identified, officials told AFP.
Three cubs born of one female is exciting news for the park, which was listed as a World Heritage Site in 2021.
Park officials said they would be holding a naming contest for the three cubs, including a prize for the winning names, according to a Jan. 30 Facebook post.
Kaeng Krachan National Park is the largest national park in Thailand, encompassing 1,100 square miles of forest in central Thailand between the Gulf of Thailand and the eastern border of Myanmar.
Facebook Translate was used to translate the Facebook posts from Kaeng Krachan National Park.
This story was originally published February 4, 2025 at 4:52 PM with the headline "Adorable triplets make surprise appearances on trail cameras in Thailand. Watch them."
