Cinta and Kumbuh - the tiger siblings!

Back again! We are getting good at these blogs things, aren't we?

Anyhow, myself and Katelynne spent our first Valentine's Day at South Lakes Safari Zoo in Dalton, home to a sibling pair of Sumatran tiger, Kumbah and Cinta. The pair were French born at Doue la Fontaine Zoo to Kiara and Bintang, who was born at Paignton Zoo on 5th February 2009 to Banda and Tenang. The duo arrived in 2016 to join another two females, one of which was the pair's older siblings. On my visit in 2017, South Lakes Safari Zoo then held one male and three female Sumatran tigers.

The tiger enclosure at the collection is known as the Way Kambas tiger reserve, the enclosure previously held another pair named Padang and Alesha. Padang was born at Dudley Zoo to their infamous pair Sarah and Filon, whilst Alesha was born at Berlin Tierpark to Santana and Morris. The pair died in recent years with Padang euthanised in 2016 due to age-related problems whist Alesha sadly passed away when she choked on a piece of meat in 2013.

During previous visits, the enclosure that holds the pair of tiger hid them extremely well and in my opinion, is one of the best enclosures within the UK. It features hidden foliage and open grassland which allows a good mixture for the cats to hide but, also to be out on-show to the public, if they deemed so. We spent a good amount of time watching the pair, Kumbah was outside for the vast majority of the day, however, his sister didn't make an appearance until later in the afternoon.

Kumbah is a typical male, big in size with a large head making him easily identifiable, the duo interacted numerous times with no tension being displayed. According to a chat with a keeper, the current plan according to the EEP is to hold the pair as a non-breeding duo, although plans can always change. Cinta is probably the most common name for a tiger in captivity, South Lakes' female is a small individual with beautiful facial markings. 

The pair in the afternoon were extremely active and sat in and around their pool - Cinta seems like a very feisty female after snarling towards members of the public and Kumbah. She did however start to prusten (chuff) towards us at the end of the day. This as mentioned before was the most that I have seen them since they arrived at the park in 2016. 

Another blog up for you all to see again - I have some ideas for more blogs coming up regarding tigers in captivity and the discovery of Royal Bengal tigers living in and around Asiatic lions.

Thanks again,
Jordan


 

Melati; 2008-2019

Hello all,

This post as the title suggests, is not one that I wanted to post, however, such is the case - Melati the Sumatran tigeress at ZSL London Zoo has died after her introduction to new male, Asim went horribly wrong. Asim only arrived in late January from Ree Park in Denmark, though, this morning (08/02/19) introductions with resident female at ZSL London Zoo, Melati ended in awful circumstances.

Asim has bred with a female before, however, he has shown an aggression towards a female in the past, which resulted in him being moved from Heidelberg Zoo in Germany to Ree Park in Denmark. A sad day for the staff down at ZSL London Zoo, though, a constant reminder at just how unpredictable tigers are. The introductions from the release from ZSL London state that before the introduction, the pair were looking promising.

Melati arrived in late September 2012 from Perth Zoo in Australia and was quickly joined by the handsome Jae Jae from America and the pair quickly produced a single cub, which sadly drowned when Melati came outside with her cub very early on and the pool was not drained. Though, it should be noted that first time mothers producing single cubs often do not rear them successfully.

On the 3rd February 2014, ZSL London Zoo welcomed the arrival of three healthy Sumatran tiger cubs. Two boys, Budi and Nakal were joined by their sister, Cinta to parents, Melati and Jae Jae. Melati did a very good job of rearing her cubs and the two boys now live in Wales and Bewdley, though, when I was last at West Midlands Safari Park in 2016, Budi was bloody terrified of Hujan! Hopefully with growth and maturity, he has since put her in her place.

In February 2016, Melati and Jae Jae successfully welcomed two more cubs to their bloodline in the form of Achilles and Karis. The duo again were raised by their two fantastic parents and moved to Howletts Wild Animal Park and Heidelberg Zoo respectively.

Melati was a stunning tiger with a very beautiful face with stunning markings, her legacy lives on through her five cubs. ZSL London Zoo had very bad luck throughout the years with their tigers, with this setback, hopefully, that is all it is and they will continue with their breeding success and working with these awesome cats in both in-situ and ex-situ.

Thanks for the read again folks - three blogs up this year already. I do hope to provide more blogs conservation wise as well as the captive side.

See you all soon!
Jordan