Tiger family spotted — and striped — in Suiyang

A wild Siberian tiger family consisting of a female tiger and three cubs has been recorded by different infrared cameras in the Suiyang bureau of the NE China Tiger and Leopard National Park that stretches across the provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang.

Experts said this was the first time a wild Siberian tiger family has been spotted in Heilongjiang province since the park was established.

"Usually, Siberian tigers will give birth to two to four cubs at one time," said Zhou Shaochun, associate researcher at the wildlife research institute in Heilongjiang province. "It is rare to see healthy quintuplets, especially in a complex, wild environment."

"The cubs are about six months old and seem quite healthy," he said. "Their mother has been shot many times in the region before."

The bureau said its monitoring shows there have been at least 10 Siberian tigers appearing in its administrative region in recent years, while the number was only four to five 10 years ago.

Siberian tigers, otherwise known as Amur or Manchurian tigers, mainly live in eastern Russia, Northeast China and the northern part of the Korean Peninsula.