FLAMINGO Land's young Sumatran tiger cub has taken its first steps outside.

The cub was born on August 25 - the culmination of seven years of work by the Flamingo Land animal carers in their attempts to protect this critically-endangered species.

"The female cub is now eating around 800g of meat each day whilst still occasional feeding from mum" said Ross Snipp, zoo manager at Flamingo Land.

"She has been microchipped and vaccinated and was 8.5kg when she was weighed at 11-weeks-old."

The cub is the product of breeding pair Bawa and Surya; who three years ago produced triplets which have now gone onto other collections to start their own families.

Flamingo Land say there are as few as 300 Sumatran Tigers left in the wild, which would mean that they have increased the world population levels of this species by 1.3 per cent.

Gordon Gibb, the resort owner, said: "Conservation is our passion and the survival of the Sumatran tigers is one of our key missions.

"Together with our achievements in the field through our Udzungwa Forest Project in Tanzania we are at the forefront of international strategic conservation.

"We are extremely proud of our efforts."

Flamingo Land Conservation's project (The Udzungwa Forest Project) has secured 26km2 of rainforest in Tanzania to ensure its survival.