A trip to Wales!

I'm back!

Apologises for the lack of posts over the past few months, I have been extremely busy with my new job and trying to keep up with the blog was extremely difficult. However, I'm back and I have a new Blog today from my trip to Wales, more specifically Colwyn Bay and even more specifically Welsh Mountain Zoo. I even had company this time, in the form of my lovely other half, Molly. It was her first visit to Welsh Mountain Zoo and excluding the walking up the hills, she enjoyed the trip and was particularly invested in the zoo's pair of lar gibbon and also the breeding pair of American alligator.

I was last down at Welsh Mountain Zoo in December, so not too long ago, not much had changed - at this time, the zoo's pair of Sumatran tigers, Budi and Kinnara were still new-ish to each other. Kinnara arrived first in Wales with her twin sister, Keisha who I saw quite recently too in Spain at Terra Natura Benidorm. Kinnara is easily identifiable as she as a significant marking above her left eye, Budi is a London boy and arrived from ZSL London Zoo in January 2016 having left with his brother, Nakal who joined Hujan at West Midland's Safari Park. From the reports, Budi settled better than Nakal as Nakal was rather cautious and nervous in the Midlands, especially joining an older female such as Hujan.

I have never had much luck trying to get any photographs of the pair at Welsh Mountain Zoo but the visit on the 2nd August 2017 was different - Kinnara and Budi were at the far end of their enclosure, one of which is my most favourite natural tiger enclosures within the UK, at least. You can still see the old lion house (I believe it is the old lion house - I could be wrong!) at the far end of the paddock where the young duo were at the time of my visit.

Budi spent most of the day at the bottom of the paddock, sleeping, fortunately, he looked quite comfortable and from time to time, decided to pop his head up and see what Kinnara was doing. Kinnara, was sat on a small platform asleep at first, but, then she decided to wake up and see what was occurring in her surroundings. Kinnara is such a beautiful tigeress with a strong face whereas Budi has a a widen face.

The future does look bright for this pair as they have bonded very well, Welsh Mountain Zoo as far as I'm aware have never bred pure-bred Sumatran tiger cubs and if the decision is given that Budi/Kinnara do breed which seems likely given how important Budi is to the European breeding programme considering his parents, Jae Jae and Melati are extremely important then it would be fantastic to see Welsh Mountain Zoo finally have a breeding pair of Sumatran tigers with cubs.

That's all for now folks, I do plan on updating the Blog as much as possible, dependent on news, it should be around once a week with expansion into conservation work among one of the things that I shall be focusing on. I believe education is a huge part of saving species such as tigers and getting this blog out there, even, if it's just to one person than it's spreading the message about saving the tiger!

Thank you all for reading,
Jordan.

Land of the Tigers at Yorkshire Wildlife Park - 6th June 2017.

Welcome back to Tigers Life!


It's been a while, however, I am back and pleased to provide another blog from my visit to one of the country's most exciting collections, Yorkshire Wildlife Park. Currently, Yorkshire Wildlife Park houses Amur tigers in their Land of the Tigers exhibit which was opened in 2011 just two years after the collection had originally opened to the public.


Currently, Yorkshire Wildlife Park has four Amur tigers in their collection, the first tiger to arrive was a male named Vladimir. He was born on the 11th May 2009 at Highland Wildlife Park in Scotland, his parents were Sasha, who was genetically very important as she was born at Moscow Zoo and her mother was a wild caught individual and Yuri, who was born in Germany at Duisburg Zoo. Vladmir was the first tiger to arrive at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in 2011, having arrived at just short of two years old, he was still quite a small male tiger. However, since his arrival over six years ago, he has since transformed into a very healthy and big adult male tiger.


The second tiger at Yorkshire Wildlife Park is Sayan, an adult female who lives with Vladimir for most of the time (I will come back to why they're not together 100% of the time). Sayan is the niece of Zambar at Blackpool Zoo as Zamb's sister, Nika is the mother of Sayan. Sayan arrived a few months after Vladimir, in May 2011, she was born on the 3rd August 2008 at Howletts Wild Animal Park in Kent. Sayan is easily identifiable as she is slightly cross-eyed, yesterday Sayan and Vladimir were in the right-hand side of Land of the Tigers otherwise known as the waterfall side. Sayan's father is Malchek, who unfortunately passed away several years ago, Nika and Malchek had three cubs in 2008, Sayan and her two brothers, Altay and Altai. Unfortunately, Altai was involved in an incident in Germany, Cologne Zoo, I believe where he had escaped and was shot dead a few years ago.


The third tiger at YWP is Tschuna! Going back to what I said earlier, the reason Vladimir and Sayan aren't together all the time is this lady. The studbook keeper recommended for Vladimir and Tschuna to breed, so when recommended to and when Tschuna is in season, the pair are introduced with the intention of producing offspring. Tschuna is a beautiful tigeress, she was born on the 22nd August 2010 at Wuppertal Zoo to Mymoza and Wassja. Unfortunately, her mother couldn't raise her, therefore she was hand-reared, luckily, Frankfurt Zoo had a Sumatran tigeress cub of a similar age which was being hand-reared, the Sumatran cub, Daseep was then moved to Wuppertal Zoo to be reared with Tschuna. In February 2012, the pair had made the move from Germany over to the West Midlands to move to Dudley Zoo. The pair continued to develop their tiger skills, learning who and what they are and what it takes to be an adult tigeress. On the 6th November 2013, the decision was made to move Tschuna to YWP to allow her to breed with Vladimir and for a new male Sumatran tiger to arrive at Dudley Zoo, thus ending the three year bond which these two females had.


The move to Yorkshire Wildlife Park went swimmingly and Tschuna has since settled in and become a very relaxed tigeress. So relaxed to the point that her and Vladimir had produced their first successful litter of cubs on the 29th March 2015. Two males and one female were born at Yorkshire Wildlife Park and were the first cubs born in history at the park. The cubs were then named Harley, Hector and Hope - raised successfully and splendidly by Tschuna, these three individuals then went onto becoming three successful individual tigers.


This then brings me onto Yorkshire Wildlife Park's fourth and final tiger, Hope who as mentioned above is the offspring of Tschuna and Vladimir. Hope is now separated from Tschuna as in the wild this would happen at around two years old anyway as the tension between mother and daughter over territory grows tremendously as the daughter grows older.


I enjoyed my visit to Yorkshire Wildlife Park yesterday, excluding the weather of course. The park was virtually empty with the exception of school visits, however, I spent most of my day with the tigers after a gander around the park. It was very interesting to see Hope on her own and now a lot bigger than my previous visit in August 2016, she was certainly growing into a beautiful tigeress, even though, she occasionally startled herself and that resulted in her falling over. Hope was in the nursery enclosure as she awaits to be moved to another zoo to continue her bloodline. I witnessed Tschuna stalking her numerous times and waiting in a small bush next to her pool before startling Hope again. Tschuna and Sayan actually spent a lot of time interacting through the fence during my time there. Vladimir was more interested in the keepers and eland, though, headed up to the fence quite a few times to check me out. He was pacing his territory and then spent the majority of the time sleeping on the platform, just to the right of the waterfall with Sayan. Tschuna and Hope spent the vast amount of the day watching each other and stalking each other.


That's it for today, folks - let me know what you thought of the blog below; any feedback is highly appreciated. I plan on heading to Blackpool Zoo on Saturday to catch up on Ally and Zamb.

Thanks again guys,
Jordan.

Rosa King

QUICK POST ALERT - Rosa King.


As many of you are aware, unfortunately yesterday, on the 29th May 2017 a rather sad incident took place at Hamerton Zoo Park. A serious incident took place involving a tiger of which is unconfirmed, and a keeper, resulting in the unfortunate death of a female keeper. Last night, this was confirmed as Rosa King, I never spoke to Rosa in person, however, I spoke to her on social media about tigers and felids in general. She was always extremely polite and would also be available to answer any questions about tigers and the animals in her care. I have seen many photographs on social media with cheetahs and the great, Sir David Attenborough.


My thoughts are with Hamerton Zoo Park, Rosa's colleagues, friends and family. Rest in peace, Rosa King.

Stripes on the move!

Welcome back to Tigers Life,


Firstly, what a busy couple of weeks it has been in Europe with the arrivals and departures of some very important tigers, from the Amur and Sumatran tigers. As such I decided to update the Blog on these moves.


So, starting from the beginning - A Sumatran tiger move will start us off, 'Vanni' the male at Terra Natura Benidorm moved from Spain over to Germany and arrived at Frankfurt Zoo where he will join 'Malea' (The mother of 'Asum', 'Berani', 'Daseep' and 'Taru') which I believe is for companionship as 'Malea' is a very well represented female having produced for cubs and the fact she is now approaching the age of sixteen years old. The addition of 'Vanni' now means Terra Natura Benidorm only house hybrid Bengal tigers, as the other female 'Keisha' has since left for elsewhere in Europe. I have seen 'Vanni' at Terra Natura Benidorm in 2014, he has a very large face from what I can remember and spent a significant amount of time in the (small) pool during his time at Terra Natura Benidorm. Now, some of the photos of him arriving at Frankfurt Zoo made me chuckle as he looks extremely content and chilled out upon his arrival! Looking forward to seeing what Frankfurt Zoo plan on doing long term with him!


The next move occurred today, with the arrival of a new female tigeress at Colchester. Amur tiger, 'Taiga' arrived today from Kristiansand Zoo. 'Taiga' was born on the 17th May 2013 to 'Boonya' and 'Ulysses', some of you could be familiar with the collection above. It is a Norwegian collection where 'Ingrid' (At Port Lympne Wild Animal Park) was born back on the 16th December 2003). I was thrilled to read that 'Taiga' has some royalty in her bloodline, her grandmother came from Novosibirsk Zoo, so genetically important! 'Taiga' is the offspring of 'Ulysses' who is the father of 'Ingrid', therefore, making them half-sisters. Very pleasing to hear that 'Taiga' arriving means that possible breeding plans with 'Igor' can now begin to take place now!


The other move today was 'Pan' at Wildlife Heritage Foundation in Kent, he moved to Eberswalde Zoo in Germany. The move was supposedly planned for a long time, 'Pan' is described as a very tall and pretty Amur tiger from various people who have seen in the flesh. During his time at WHF, 'Pan' sired three successful cubs, all females which was a surprise. Two of his daughters are now at Paradise Wildlife Park, the sister park to WHF, whilst his remaining daughter still lives at the park, now unfortunately alone as her mother, 'Ronja' passed quite recently.


Thanks all for reading, it's not a long Blog, but a quick update on some moves, in and around Europe. Thanks for reading, keep an eye out for more Blogs.


Photos courtesy of Zoo Frankfurt of 'Vanni'.

The South Lakes edition - Way Kambas Tiger Reserve

With a new year looming and an opportunity to visit the South Lakes Safari Zoo during their free entry period, I decided to take the opportunity. South Lakes Safari Zoo has had a dramatic history to say the least from an unfortunate keeper death to several escapee animals. With their potential closure, I decided to head up to the collection and check out the place, funnily enough I visited the collection on the 9th January 2016, one year previously!






Anyway, I have always enjoyed their tiger exhibit and conservation work which in my opinion, is severely overlooked. South Lakes have had a very interesting number of years with their tigers. They first received a male Sumatran tiger named 'Toba' in 1996 before the arrival of two Amur tigers, 'Egor' and 'Nina' who were a brother and sister pairing from Marwell Wildlife. These two tigers were the poster tigers for South Lakes, these two tigers were the tigers which were shown for the infamous pole climbing (The tiger feeding talk which included the meat being placed on the top of the pole and the tigers climbing the pole for their meat). Egor died in 2008/09 at the age of eleven/twelve years old from a suspected kidney failure. However, Nina lived up until around about 2012 and was one of the tigers who I had spent a lot of time with and studying.






Moving back to the Sumatrans, South Lakes held Sumatran tigers which have been their 'star' animal or main attraction, the park's founder, the ever controversial David Gill created the Sumatran Tiger Trust to aid the conservation work in Sumatra. One thing I enjoy reading in South Lakes' guidebooks is the history of their conservation work, there is a family tree of some icon tigers which have been an influential part of their work.






South Lakes have only ever had one tiger cub born in their collection history, a female named 'Kadi' who was named after Mr Gill's daughter. 'Kadi' was born on the 7th September 2010 to the then breeding pair, 'Padang' and 'Alesha'. Both of these tigers have prestigious and historical bloodlines, firstly, 'Padang' is the son of the infamous pairing of 'Sarah' and 'Filon' from Dudley Zoo and is one of the tigers from the 2002 litter. Whereas, 'Alesha' was from the Berlin Tierpark's line of 'Santana' and 'Morris', she was born on the 9th July 2002 with her two siblings, 'Soraya' and 'Shakira' (Now with 'Fabi' at Paignton Zoo). Unfortunately, this pair are now deceased as 'Alesha' died in November 2013. and 'Padang' was euthanised in June of 2016 due to 'long standing health problems'. 'Kadi' also is no longer with us.






Now, the South Lakes Safari Zoo hold one male and three female Sumatran tigers, the male and two of the females are brother and sisters. The male is 'Kumbuh' and one of the three females, 'Cinta' were litter mates, born 22nd September 2014 at Zoo Doue la Fontaine in France. The parents of these two are 'Kiara' and the father, 'Bintang' who was one of the litter of three born at Paignton Zoo in February 2009 with 'Aryo' (Now at Arnhem/Burger's Zoo) and 'Surya' (Now at Flamingo Land). Making 'Cinta' and 'Kumbuh' the cousins to tigers such as 'Bulan', 'Kuasa', 'Mentari' and more importantly 'Janine'.


Now, this isn't a tiger familiar with many of you and the reason why is because 'Janine' doesn't exist anymore. Meet... 'Cin Cin Emas', the founder of South Lakes Safari Zoo renamed 'Janine' when she arrived in January 2015. As mentioned, she is the offspring of 'Aryo' and his current partner at Arnhem/Burger's Zoo, 'Jarum'. 'Cin Cin Emas' was born on the 5th May 2013 in a litter of two with her sister, 'Lara'. The final female at South Lakes Safari Zoo is 'Mayang' who is another tiger renamed by David Gill, she was born on the 14th November 2012 at Zoo Doue la Fontaine therefore is the full sibling from the first litter. However, she was first named 'Phuket', again another case of renaming at South Lakes Safari Zoo. She originally moved to Haute La Touche before arriving at South Lakes on the 13th June 2015.


The tiger history at South Lakes has always fascinated me, not to mention how many different tigers they've had and numerous moves around the park in different enclosures. In my opinion, the (now) Way Kambas Tiger Reserve will always be an iconic piece of the park, and has overseen the change from Amur and Sumatran tiger, to jaguar, to snow leopard, to giant anteater before the eventual change to make the Way Kambas Tiger Reserve. Something I always like about zoo's in general is the fact that a specific enclosure has such an influence on people because of the effort dedicated to it. This can be seen in different collections throughout the country from ZSL London Zoo's 'Tiger Territory' to Edinburgh Zoo's 'Tiger Tracks'.


I spent the majority of the day with the Sumatran tigers, with four tigers in one enclosure I was interested to see how they cohabited. The male was rather relaxed, however, the females were a little less calmer than him. When I arrived early on, three individuals were at the indoor viewing window, one of which wasn't too pleased with people at the window. Continuous snarling and hissing was taking place, though the time I was the three females spent a lot of time chuffing towards each other, head rubbing and other friendly tiger behaviour. The female who spent a lot of time throughout the enclosure was 'Mayang', searching the enclosure and spending a lot of time with one of the other females. Something which I found on my recent visits to the collection is that since the fencing has been removed, the tigers prefer the dense cover than the open part of the enclosure. The overall size of the enclosure with the added cover is rather nice.


Anyway, thanks for reading folks, expect more blogs coming this year with more conservation stories/projects on the blog as well as a deeper look into tigers in Europe, their bloodlines and famiy trees. Thanks again for reading guys!

Flamingo Land!

It's been eighteen months since my last visit to Flamingo Land, the last time I visited, I had walked the seven and a half miles from the train station to Flamingo Land. When in actual reality, it would have been a lot easier to visit via bus! I spent most of my time with the carnivores, specifically tigers due to the fact the lions did not like the cold! Plus I also grew a tremendous amount of love for Eastern black rhinoceros.

The last time I visited Flamingo Land was in February 2015 and this was when Surya the adult Sumatran tigeress had three eleven month-old triplets with her, the cubs were two females Bulan and Mentari and the big male cub, Kuasa. Bawa on the other hand (The father of the triplets) was virtually unseen during my last visit, however, things were opposite on this occasion. Having spent the first hour or so having a gander around the collection, I returned to the tiger enclosure to find both tigers still in their house with Bawa pacing indoors, it should be noted that both tigers had outdoor access, however, due to the severe cold in Yorkshire, I supported their decision to stay indoors! 

Bawa is an impressive male, at the age of eight years old he is in his prime and spent a while during the afternoon calling to Surya. The studbook keeper at the moment has suspended breeding with this pair due to the genes from both families, Surya's side is more stronger than Bawa's. Surya's parents had four successful offspring and her mother, Banda is the offspring of the infamous pairing at Dudley Zoo between Sarah and Filon. As mentioned in past blogs, Surya's father, Tenang (Who unfortunately passed around twelve to eighteen months due to a kidney failure at the splendid age of around fifteen/sixteen years old) was the result of a very important import from Perth Zoo in early 2002/03. Surya's siblings consist of two males and a female. Her litter mates were actually two males and another female (Not the one previously mentioned!) however, the female cub died at a young age due to an injury relating to the leg. The two males are Aryo who is now in Netherlands at Arnhem/Burgers Zoo and the other male is Bintang who is at Zoo Doue La Fontaine, the two males are now fathers to several tigers. Surya's other sibling is Kirana the now retired female at Chester Zoo, who was born in a separate litter with a brother, Topan, who unfortunately died due to a heart condition. A touching tribute to him is that Chester Zoo named one of Kirana's sons after Topan. As you can see, with Kirana having seven cubs, Aryo having four and Bintang having several too then this leads to quite a lot of related tigers in Europe. A sensible move to suspend the breeding from Surya/Bawa at the moment. 

Surya is a beautiful tiger and moves in such a majestic way which is one of the many reasons I find her an amazing tiger. Bawa is a typical male tiger, with a very big head and long length body, Kuasa very much takes after his father in my opinion with his head size. A little bit of trivia, Flamingo Land previously held Eurasian lynx in one side of the tiger enclosure and a pair of Amur tiger sisters in the other. Flamingo Land's tiger enclosure is one of my personal highlights of the collection because of the history, it is one of the very few enclosures I remember as a small child as well as the polar bear enclosure (Which is no longer there).

I spent most of the day with the tigers of course, however, after feeding time they decided to head back indoors. Both tigers spent some time enjoying pieces of meat left for them and then Bawa spent some time calling to Surya and vice-versa. The sound of a tiger calling is one of the most spectacular things I have ever heard and I will never, ever, get bored of it. Overall a great day at Flamingo Land albeit a little cold, but, very inspiring talking to two of their keepers and spending time with the most amazing tigers. 

A brief update, I have a Chester, Colchester and Blackpool blog all to come yet, stay tuned as there is much more to come before the year is out and some exciting developments happening in 2017. 

Again, thank you to all for having a read and sharing the blog, I would appreciate it if you could all continue reading, sharing and giving feedback.

All the best,

Jordan.

Tiger Tracks!

Hello again!

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.