Heartwarming CCTV footage from deep inside Milli the bear’s pitch black den shows how she is caring tenderly for the first ever sun bear cub born in the UK. Milli and her partner Toni have overcome incredible adversity to produce the tiny 400gram youngster, having been rescued from a life of misery to live out their days in comfort at Chester Zoo. Both bears were seized from poachers in Cambodia who had killed their mothers and kept them as pets before they were eventually saved by a conservation group. Both were in a poor condition but were nursed back to health by Free the Bears and eventually arrived at Chester Zoo three years ago. The couple have bonded so well in their brand new enclosure with its natural habitat, they have produced another addition to a species which has been classified as vulnerable to extinction on the wildlife Red List.

It’s simply fantastic that we’ve been able to help them come this far and have a cub together. Tim Rowlands

Sun bears are the smallest of all the bears and get their name from the radiant crescent markings on their chest, said to replicate a rising sun. Bright skies, however, are something that Milli and her cub will be missing out on over coming week weeks as she nurses the youngster in her den. Their alternative name is honey bear, a reference to their habit of using strong jaws and claws to raid insect nests and then lick up the contents with their extraordinarily long tongues. Chester Zoo’s curator of mammals Tim Rowlands explained: “Our zoo was specially selected to work with Milli and Toni and continue their care following the harrowing and horrible experiences they had in their younger lives. "It’s simply fantastic that we’ve been able to help them come this far and have a cub together.

The mother sun bear and her baby cub

"It’s momentous for them and, with it being a UK first breeding of this species, momentous for the zoo, too. “It’s very early days and the cub is still just tiny but we’re monitoring it closely on remote cameras and mum Milli is doing everything right so far – allowing the cub to feed several times a day and being ever so attentive. “All being well, it’s now likely she’ll keep her cub tucked away in her cubbing den for up to two months before the two of them begin to venture out.” While Milli and her cub – which has yet to be sexed or given a name – are secure in their zoo den, their wild counterparts across a diminishing Far East range are in decline. Small populations can still be found in Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, India, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam as well as the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo, but they are now believed to be extinct in China.

Milli the bear is seen here comforting her new baby cub