After undergoing a care and observation process for four months after birth before the end of 2024, the Kinantan Wildlife and Cultural Park (TMSBK) in Bukittinggi City, West Sumatra, Indonesia, began introducing baby Sumatran tigers to the public.

The baby Sumatran tiger with the Latin name Panthera Tigris Sumatrae is a female with the full name Banun Kinantan, born to a tiger mother named Mantagi, 9 years old, and a male named Bujang Mandeh, 12 years old.

TMSBK Bukittinggi veterinarian Yoli Zulfanedi in Bukittinggi on Wednesday (30/4) said that the breeding process must carry out a number of special patterns so that the breeding process is successful for the Sumatran tiger pair.

Doctor Yoli said there were serious challenges faced by his party after Banun's birth. Apart from losing its sibling a few days after birth, the female tiger cub grew up far from its mother.

SOT : YOLI ZULFANEDI - TMSBK BUKITTINGGI VETERINARY DOCTOR
TC : 00.01 – 01.07
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT:

"The challenge is quite extraordinary, considering that Banun's mother and father, Bujang Mandeh and Matagi, have never given birth, so the information regarding her age is that Bujang Mandeh is 12 years old, while Matagi's mother is 9 years old. In the middle of 2023, we carried out a breeding program by changing her diet by giving her special vitamins to increase fertility, and then, thank God, we only succeeded in 2024 with the birth of Banun. Banun's birth was certainly not easy because it turned out that during "the birth process and then its enlargement also have extraordinary challenges, where the Banun is born only getting a little milk from its mother, so we have to look after it by the goalkeeper and the doctor. So the Banun grows up not with the mother but with the goalkeeper and the doctor."

Currently, his party, together with the TMSBK Bukittinggi veterinary team, is also breeding several other breeders, which they hope will develop and give birth to new Sumatran tiger cubs.

Banun is the 10th tiger born at TMSBK Bukittinggi, some of which have been handed over to other conservation institutions for care and development, and some have not survived to adulthood.