I'm Jordan, the creator of this blog, I'm currently studying animal management at college with the eventual goal of heading onto university. I've been a huge supporter of tigers, big cats and conservation since I saw my first tiger in 2001. This was 'Jagasar', a male Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) at Blackpool Zoo. I saw 'Jagasar' and his mate, 'Sheya' at Blackpool Zoo in their old enclosure in the big cat house, this is now the African lion enclosure/side. A little bit of information on Blackpool Zoo's old breeding pair, 'Sheya' and 'Jagasar' is below:
'Jagasar' was a male Amur tiger born on the 30th April 1992 at Helsinki Zoo, he was an only cub to 'Taiva' 'and 'Agasar'. He arrived from Helsinki Zoo at fourteen months old, so he was only still a cub at the time, when he arrived. He spent many years at the collection with his mate, 'Sheya', they had three cubs together, they were 'Tazmin', 'Tammy' and 'Turlouch'. His father, 'Agasar' was born in Germany, at Leipzig Zoo in 1974 and died a month after 'Jagasar' was born.
His mate, 'Sheya' has a different background to 'Jagasar', she was born here in the UK, at Marwell Zoo, she was born 8th October 1991 at Marwell Zoo and arrived on the 27th January 1993 so was on her own for a while before the arrival of her mate.
Together at Blackpool Zoo, 'Sheya' and 'Jagasar' successfully raised a trio of cubs, however, I don't know if they were raised with their father, I have no indication of that! Three cubs, a male and two females were born on the 26th January 1996 and successfully reared to adult hood! 'Tammy' headed to Dartmoor Zoo with, 'Tazmin' her sister on 30th August 1996, whilst 'Turlouch' moved to Dublin Zoo on 23rd March 1999.
Unfortunately, both these individuals died several years ago, 'Sheya' passed away first on the 1st January 2007, whilst 'Jagasar' was euthanised on the 11th November 2009. Recently, their offspring, 'Tammy', 'Tazmin' and lastly, 'Turlouch' passed away, so the Blackpool Zoo line has ended, expect for the offspring of 'Tammy' at Dartmoor Zoo, these are hybrid individuals, named 'Blotch' and 'Stripe' with their father, 'Vladimir' being a hybrid. 'Tazmin' remained at Dartmoor Zoo until her death, whilst her sister, 'Tammy' retired at Parc des Le Felines.
A new breeding pair was eventually created after the death of 'Jagasar', a new young hand-reared male, 'Zambar' arrived on the 1st February 2010. He was born on the 19th March 2004 at Marwell Zoo to 'Yenna' and 'Gamin', he was rejected by 'Yenna' as he was a solo cub, and her first cub. As such a wacky plan was to introduce him to an unrelated male who took to him like he was his own, which was brilliant for 'Zambar'. After a two year wait, in September 2012, 'Alyona' arrived from Beekse Burgen Safari Park, she was born on the 2nd June 2008 to 'Petrouchkamul' and 'Joris'. She was in a litter of three with her sister, 'Arisha' and her brother, 'Tijs'.
After a two year wait, the two new tigers at Blackpool Zoo, 'Alyona' and 'Zambar' had two cubs, 'Barney' and 'Radzhi' born on the 11th June 2014. The first cubs since 1996, I watched these two grow from the tiny little cubs they were to young adult male tigers they are today. I have a particular soft spot for 'Zambar' as I have watched him and visited him since 2010 and he is my favourite tiger. This blog will be mainly tiger based, although, it will be related to big cats and my zoo visits!
'Radzhi' left Blackpool Zoo on the 18th January 2016 leaving the seaside town of Blackpool and heading to sunny climates in Portugal. He moved to Zoo Santo de Inacio, to join 'Mila' a female born at Frankfurt Zoo in 2013 to 'Hanya' and 'Altai'. 'Altai' is the nephew of 'Zambar', incidentally after being born to 'Zambar's' younger sister, 'Nika'.
I hope the blog has kept you interested and I'll look forward to posting more. Take care and enjoy guys,
Jordan.
