Endangered Manchurian tiger park celebrating bumper delivery from star breeder

The Manchurian tiger is one of the world's most endangered species, so every new birth is vital to protecting the big cats' future.

So when a mother delivers quintuplets it's a definite cause for celebration.

Heilongjiang Manchurian Tiger Park's 11-year-old mum has done it before, with quadruplets in 2014 and quintuplets in 2015.

Her most recent five, two males and three female cubs, are now the latest to be specially bred by experts at the park in China’s northeastern Heilongjiang Province.

The mum needs help maintaining their huge appetites to build them up for life beyond captivity.

"For the endangered species (the quintuplets) mean they have a relatively strong reproductive ability despite such a little population.

"That makes us confident of their natural breeding in the future," said official Jiang Guangshun.