Sydney Zoo Sydney Zoo News 2022
- Thread starter Patrick Keegan
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They are:
1.0 Charlie (18/07/2007) Lari x Louise
0.1 Mika (18/07/2007) Lari x Louise
0.1 Sunita (18/07/2007) Lari x Louise
Disappointing to see them not acquire Sumatrans, but these three will make an exciting and active display nonetheless.
This unfortunately means Sydney Zoo will not be acquiring a breeding pair of Sumatran tiger (or even a non breeding tiger). The 1.2 are elderly tigers however and the option will be there again within five years or so.
They were on-display during my visit on Saturday in the main exhibit. The second tiger exhibit was closed. The tigers remained well-hidden but on my second lap they were much more visible about an hour before closing.
Sorry to ask what may be a simple question to those that follow the tiger population more closely than myself, but are the 1.2 siblings the result of a Sumatran x Generic pair? The photo above gives the impression that they have a fair amount of Sumatran in them (based on the face).
Thanks! Was Lari ever bred to a pure female?
There are tigers at Sydney and Taronga Zoos and I wonder if both zoos need to keep them.
Are many visitors bothered if the tigers are purebred or generic?
If the tigers are not part of a reintroduction programme, does it matter about their heritage?
Are many visitors bothered if the tigers are purebred or generic?
If the tigers are not part of a reintroduction programme, does it matter about their heritage?
Taronga seems largely dedicated to actually breeding Sumatrans, and do hold the regional studbook for this species.
Sydney on the other hand are likely just holding them for the sake of holding tigers as both a drawcard and ambassadors for the plight of rainforests.
Most visitors can't really tell the differences between a purebred and a generic imo. And to answer the reintroduction question, theoretically no, but zoos these days would rather maintain purebred populations rather than mixing and populating the regions zoos with generics. Sumatrans are a critically endangered subspecies so the management around them (namely breeding) would be very strict I imagine.
Jambo is correct, the two Sumatran males currently at Mogo are Lari's offspring with Soraya, born 2010. Their littermate is the female Senja at Wellington Zoo.
Three of the Sumatrans still held at Australia Zoo - Juma, Rana and Singha - were also sired by Lari at Mogo (their mother was Malu, born to Jambi and Cantik at Wellington Zoo, so Lari's first cousin), in 2004.
You’re welcome @TNT.
Lari was twice bred to purebred females. He was bred once against recommendation in 2004 to Malu (first cousin) to produce 2.1 cubs (Juma, Ranu and Singha) and once on recommendation to Soraya in 2010 to produce 2.1 cubs (Indra, Mati and Senja).
None of Lari’s second litter have bred, but he has descendants through his eldest sons, who between them have sired 1.1 and 2.2 cubs respectively at Australia Zoo - one of which is now pregnant.
The majority of visitors aren’t bothered if a tiger is purebred or generic and Dreamworld, who has bred only generic for some time is one of the biggest contributors in the region to tiger conservation. Could they achieve the same with an all Sumatran population? Arguably yes, but the white tigers still have a strong appeal to the public.
Taronga Zoo will never return to hybrids. Their Sumatran tiger dynasty extends back to the import of Nico and Meta 1979 and they’re extremely proud of their breeding achievements over this time. Sydney Zoo, as an establishing zoo, are perhaps more happy to take what they can get - especially knowing generics bring in the same number of people, who will still contribute to conservation funds etc.
When I made my first visit to Bristol Zoo in 1968, the animals I most wanted to see were okapis and white tigers. I can understand why many visitors prefer to see white tigers rather than 'ordinary' tigers. If captive tigers aren't part of a reintroduction programme (which would be especially dangerous with tigers that associate people with food), does it really matter what colour tigers are?
I see your point. At the current point in time, the purebred Sumatran tiger population has the same practical conservation value as the generics i.e. they’re ambassadors.
The Sumatrans have a hypothetical conservation value as an insurance population. They’re protected in national parks in Sumatra and some of these have imported an increase in population following efforts to protect them. They nonetheless remain critically endangered, so there’s certainly no harm in maintaining an insurance population imo in case of a catastrophic development in the wild.
The problem is, Sumatran tigers are becoming increasingly inbred due to the small founder size. New founders, such as the Indonesian imports by Australia Zoo would be of great value to Australasian, European and North American breeding programmes.
I just took interest whenever Sydney Zoo bring in an interesting new species. They seem content with just having their big Saltie' Croc' atm and think they mainly focus on stereotypically crowd popular species with a few cool exceptions (not knocking the keepers themselves, and especially not knocking the animals, still have a copy of a photo of the keepers spraying some cute Ostriches with a water-hose during a heatwave, there's some awesome species there that are not kept anywhere else in greater Sydney, it's more the directorship of that zoo is very 'market research'-ish, waiting to see if they jump into the conservation projects like other big zoos and noble small ones in our region work at).
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Given the size of Sydney Zoo, I’d be surprised if we saw much in the way of new exhibits. Long term, there may be phase outs in favour of new species; but in the short term, I’d expect to see mixed species exhibits e.g. Siamang could be integrated with their Sumatran orangutan; or a new ungulate species introduced to their giraffe or rhino.
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@Zoofan15
That's such a good idea given the situation with them building themselves up to maximum capacity right from their beginning. Although did just take a mild criticism pinch at the zoo just before am very very curious to see how the zoo progresses over the next decade and further. I think you've outlined the best way forward for them within their means.
That's such a good idea given the situation with them building themselves up to maximum capacity right from their beginning. Although did just take a mild criticism pinch at the zoo just before am very very curious to see how the zoo progresses over the next decade and further. I think you've outlined the best way forward for them within their means.
I think the best way to describe their development phase over the next decade will be consolidation. It’s not stagnation, but as you pointed out, they essentially built a zoo overnight - building the number exhibits most privately owned zoos would build over two or three decades and now space is at a premium.
Of the mammals, ungulates and primates best lend themselves to mixed species exhibits for obvious reasons so I’d expect most new species to be from these groups.