Bawa, Menya and Surya - Malton's family of tigers...

Hello again!

It's been a while, though, through very busy times with the arrival of our daughter, university, work and now also work experience through Blackpool Zoo, I am extremely busy! However, I have managed to visit three collections this month, Blackpool Zoo, Manchester Museum and most recently, Flamingo Land on 18th January. Flamingo Land holds a special place in my heart as I have fond memories of being there as a small child and seeing my first polar bear, Mandy.

The collection currently house Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae) which they have held since 2010. At the moment, Flamingo Land have three Sumatran tigers, one male, Bawa and two females, Surya and Menya. Bawa was born at the Big Cat Sanctuary, formerly known as Wildlife Heritage Foundation in Kent on the 27th July 2008 with his brother, Asu. The brothers were the first of two litters for parents, Puna and Nias. Bawa arrived on the 2nd September 2010 as the first Sumatran tiger at Flamingo Land. Surya arrived five days later from Paignton Zoo where she was born on the 5th February 2009 in a litter of four to second-time parents, Banda and Tenang. Bawa and Surya have produced four successful cubs, Bulan, Kuasa, Mentari and now, Menya who was born on the 22nd August 2017.

I last visited Flamingo Land in February 2018 when Menya was still relatively small, however, on this visit her increase in size was quite obvious. She looked very similar to her mother, Surya and on first glance I had to double check it wasn't the same individual. The weather at Flamingo Land was cold, but it was sunny and as such, the collection was virtually empty. I spent the majority of my day watching the family who were more active on this visit than on the previous one. Surya and Bawa spent a lot of time together, head rubbing and chuffing (Prusten) towards each other. Menya spent a lot of the time I was there on her own, with occasional interactions with her parents. Young tigers start to spend more time alone and away from their parents when they reach around a year old.

Flamingo Land have two enclosures for their tigers, the trio had access to both of them on my visit. In previous years, the park has housed European lynx and Amur tiger in these enclosures. I really like the tiger setup at the park, if and when the time comes when Menya is no longer able to be housed with her parents, the option is there for a huge paddock for her to be housed separately. Bawa is such a splendid looking male with such dark colours whereas Surya is rather fluffier IMO and looks more at home in the Yorkshire winter air.

Thanks for the read again folks,
Hope to provide more in 2019!
Jordan