ZSL London Zoo - Tiger Territory

Hello al!

For my second blog, I was a little unsure on what to write, so, I thought as I'm off to London in a few weeks, I'll write a small blog on ZSL London Zoo and their amazing Tiger Territory exhibit. I have only visited ZSL London Zoo once, this was over a year ago in February 2015. I was thrilled with one of their newest exhibits, Tiger Territory!

Plans for a new tiger enclosure at ZSL London Zoo had been scheduled for years, however, it finally began to construction several years ago. ZSL London Zoo's original pair of Sumatran tiger were 'Lumpar' and 'Raika', a non-breeding, old duo. 'Lumpar' was the male, born in France on 18th August 1997, who arrived in late October 1999. His mate, 'Raika' is from the Berlin Tierpark line, she was born on 26th May 1995 and was a single cub, she originally arrived on 30th April 1997. However, her full sister, by separate litters, 'Sarah' (Dudley Zoo) was swapped with her for breeding purposes on 6th June 2007. Though, no offspring occurred from the pairing of 'Lumpar' and 'Sarah', eventually, 'Sarah' was moved back to Dudley Zoo on 21st October 2008 with 'Raika' moving in the opposite direction. The duo of 'Lumpar' and 'Raika' left ZSL London Zoo in September 2012 to retire at the Wildlife Heritage Foundation. Unfortunately, in late 2015, 'Raika' was euthanised at the grand old age of twenty. A wonderful age for a beautiful cat.

This left ZSL London Zoo with no tigers, however, on 26th September 2012, a young female arrived freshly imported from Australia. 'Melati' was born on 20th August 2008 in a litter of three with her two brothers, 'Satri' and 'Jaya'. Her parents are 'Setia' (Originally born at Perth Zoo and a relative to 'Tenang' - the deceased male at Paignton Zoo, father of 'Kirana' at Chester Zoo) and 'Hari'. 'Hari' is actually the only ZSL London Zoo tiger before the introduction of their new tigers in 2012.

The second tiger to arrive for ZSL London Zoo's tiger territory was 'Jae Jae', a stunning young male born on 6th March 2008 at San Francisco Zoo. He arrived several weeks after 'Melati', in October 2012. After his arrival, steady introductions were taken to introduce the pair and a successful introduction was made several months after. Before they were moved to their new tiger territory exhibit, they were introduced in the old tiger enclosure, however, they were successfully moved across to their new exhibit in 2013.

On 22nd September 2013, 'Melati' gave birth to a single cub, the first tiger cub for ZSL London Zoo in seventeen years since the birth of 'Hari'. Although things were going great to start with, tragedy struck as 'Melati' took the precious cub outdoors once evening and the cub drowned in the outdoor pool. A post mortem on the cub found the beautiful cub had drowned. A bit blow to the studbook, the keepers, visitors, but, most importantly to 'Melati'.

Success! After such tragedy five months earlier, 'Melati' gave birth again on the 3rd February 2014, the second litter for her and 'Jae Jae'. Two males, named 'Budi' and 'Nakal, and a little female named 'Cinta' were welcomed into the world and were quite a handful for mum, 'Melati' to say the least! 'Melati' was a fantastic mother to this trio, raising them all successfully to adulthood, kept separate from their father, but, the wonderful thing about their exhibit is that, the glass windows allowed the young trio to interact with their lovely father.

After a long eighteen months for 'Melati', the two young males, 'Budi' and 'Nakal', were moved from ZSL London Zoo to new collections to eventually contribute to the EEP and their species in Europe. The two boys who were inseparable left the glorious ZSL London Zoo in late 2015, 'Budi' moved to Welsh Mountain Zoo on  7th January 2016 and his brother, 'Nakal' moved to West Midlands Safari Park, in Bewdley two days prior. 'Cinta' stayed with her mother for slightly longer, according to people I have spoken too, the two were very fond of each other. 'Melati' in particular had a lot of patience with her daughter. 'Cinta' left ZSL London Zoo in early March 2016 to move to Prague Zoo, leaving just the two adults, 'Jae Jae' and 'Melati' again.

When I first visited ZSL London Zoo, I spent the majority of my time at their Tiger Territory exhibit, it was amazing. Two great enclosures, good viewing for the public, good space for the animals and very good quality of signage. I'm looking forward to heading back down to London, it's a great place and the keepers are exceptional.