So yesterday, the 10th October 2016, I visited Edinburgh Zoo, a collection which I have a great love for despite a few negativities in recent years. A lot of species have left the collection since 2010 including Amur leopard, jaguar, clouded leopard, Asiatic golden cat, wolverine, Andean cock-of-the-rock, maned wolf and Eastern kiang to name a few. Despite the departure of such magnificent species, the zoo has maintained its uniqueness with a lot of bizarre animals.
The departure of the felids in particular is linked in with their new opening of Tiger Tracks. Edinburgh Zoo had a row of enclosures which was collectively known as the big cat row, these were since closed down in 2012/13 from memory, though, that could be a lot wrong. However, at the top of that row was their Sumatran tiger pair, 'Jambi' and 'Baginda'. Their exhibit has housed Amur tigers in the past, the original Amur tigers at Highland Wildlife Park (The sister collection to Edinburgh Zoo) the enclosure held 'Yuri' who was the male born at Duisburg Zoo and the female, Sasha who was genetically important as she was born at Moscow Zoo. Up until 2010, Edinburgh Zoo housed Amur tigers until they received their first ever Sumatran tigers. A brother-sister pairing, 'Chandra' and 'Tibor' who were born 16th July 2007 at Hedelberg Zoo to 'Kim' and 'Sabu'. They arrived in 2010, however, shortly after their arrival, Chandra was moved to Champrepus Zoo in 2011. Since her move to Champrepus Zoo she has had three cubs with their male, 'Oscar'. The first cub which 'Chandra' gave birth to was 'Douga' a young female who now lives in Ireland and Fota Wildlife Park, from numerous reports I've heard about' Douga' she is believed to be quite a feisty female. The other two cubs are two males born on the 16th February 2013. 'Dhjala' (Who now lives in Augsburg Zoo) and his brother, 'Argo' were the second litter to be born to 'Chandra'.
Just going back to 'Tibor' when he was at Edinburgh, about six months after he arrived, he had to have an operation to have a cataract (I think that's what it was!) removed from his eye, which resulted in his eye being removed. So, unfortunately, 'Tibor' only has on eye. He now lives in Barcelona with a female named 'Pertama' who was born in 2005. From various sources, I believe the pair have now accepted its each others presence, shall we say?
Edinburgh Zoo's current pair, 'Jambi' and 'Baginda' have been introduced quite a lot and from numerous reports that I've heard, they're doing excellent together with lots of flirtatious behaviour from the female and a lot of mating. 'Baginda' was paired with 'Tibor' before, but, they had no success, she arrived on the 28th May 2011 and 'Tibor' left in the Summer of 2015. He moved to Barcelona Zoo and 'Jambi' arrived from Berlin Tierpark on the 30th July 2015. If they do breed, these cubs will be the first ever Sumatran tiger cubs to be born at Edinburgh Zoo and I believe in Scotland. I never had the opportunity to see 'Sarah' and 'Filon' who are the parents of 'Jambi', but, I have seen 'Padang' (The male at South Lakes Safari Zoo who was sadly euthanised in 2016) who was born in the same litter as 'Jambi' in 2002. They look identical, for a moment, I thought I was seeing 'Padang' all over again. The Dudley Zoo tiger line interests me quite a lot, because, the litters produced from their pair have now gone all over Europe.
'Baginda' was born on the 6th April 2003 at Dortmund Zoo to 'Rachka' and 'Ankor', I actually had the opportunity to see 'Baginda' in her previous home, Terra Natura Benidorm in 2009 and 2011. She lived with her sister from the same litter, 'Baghagia' who unfortunately died in 2014/15. Terra Natura Benidorm were none-breeding holders for the studbook up until 'Baghagia' passed. After that, they imported a young male, 'Vanni' who was born in May 2010 at Rotterdam Zoo to 'Alia' and 'Hermes', he was joined in December/January time by a female named 'Keisha' who was born at Krefeld Zoo on the 28th March 2012 to 'Sutera' and 'Beludru'. She moved to the UK in the same shipment as her brother, 'Joao' who moved to Dudley Zoo and 'Keisha' and her sister, 'Kinnara' moved to Welsh Mountain Zoo where they lived with a hybrid male 'Flynn/Bryn' until he passed away last year.
I spent most of my day at the Tiger Tracks yesterday and I was extremely impressed. Particularly with the signage efforts, from my point of view, Edinburgh Zoo has taken extreme detail into account when creating their signage. The detail notes about the dangers that current Sumatran tigers are facing, it notes their home land and the difference in their habitat. Such as the farm lands, the roads and the rainforest. Something which I was particularly thrilled with was the addition of a new tiger house! Their old house was a little run down, let's just say. The signage also had some rather nice examples of the sizes of tigers, which is educational for children which is extremely important! The tigers themselves? Well, 'Jambi' was a sleep for most of the day, which is typical. 'Baginda' was a little more active, displaying some pacing behaviour, but, she spent a lot of her time towards the time of the enclosure trying to get towards the new house where 'Jambi' was. The enclosure for Tiger Tracks is good, the one thing I would have like to have seen added/changed, would be the addition of a slide system and fencing near the entry of the tiger outside enclosure. It would make for a very nice little nursery if/when 'Baginda' produces cubs.
I have another blog coming up before Friday, I think! It's from my visit to Blackpool a few weeks back and it'll be about a day in the life of an Amur tiger, 'Alyona' and 'Zambar' style!
Thanks all for the support,
Jordan.
No comments:
Post a Comment