@Jayden8763 Yeah, it shows Persian leopards held in a separate exhibit from black leopards. I don’t doubt they had melanistic leopards; I’m saying they weren’t Persian.
@Jayden8763 Chester the white tiger was there the same time as Calang (Sumatran tiger), who arrived 1994. @steveroberts knows the dates I believe for Chester.
@Zoofan15 oh yeah Chester was there 5 December 1995 (public display December 7th) to 15 February 1996. Yeah was cool to compare Calang and Chester within metres of eachother (something the zoo's media release at the time said the zoo was looking forward to give the public the experience to be able to see). Its funny to think that Chester moved next door to Calang temporarily at the time that Calang's nephews were going on display next to Chester's most consistent exhibit in Australia, his Taronga one.
There was a female (orange) Tiger of probable Bengal subspecies origin named Delores who was at the zoo from 1978 (she came from Blackpool Zoo) who died in 1998 aged 20 (she had a companion another female Anitraz who died in 1992), she was in exhibit opposite Calang from Jan 1994 until she died (and Chester took over her exhibit during daytime hours, apparently she still had access to her exhibit after hours).
The Persian Leopards Fury 1.0 and daughters Ishtar & Tiamat 0.2 rotated between one of the exhibits (one next to Lions, though have memory of seeing one of them opposite Delores the Tiger in early '90s so might of swapped around exhibits with the female melanistic Leopard at times for environmental enrichment).
The female melanistic Leopard was of unknown/mixed subspecies origins, completely seperate from the zoo's Persian Leopards; she came to Perth Zoo from Melbourne Zoo, and as said before left in Jan '94 when 1.0 Calang the Sumatran Tiger (also from Melbourne Zoo). I don't know what year the melanistic Leopard arrived from Melbourne have been trying to find out. But Fury and Ishtar & Tiamat's ill-fated dam Princess both arrived at Perth Zoo in October 1984 just ahead of the opening of the 'Great Cats' complex.
**Chester (born at Henry Doorly Zoo US) was of mixed origins, part Siberian and part Bengal.
no wonder he was leucistic... so this must have been a breeding program done on purpose to get a leucistic tiger in a way that could probably make that US zoo alot of money or get them a great trade offer.
It was a circus who bred Siberian Tigers with Bengal Tigers who carried the leucistic-gene
and from there Chester's dam Obi ended up at Henry Doorly Zoo and mated with Mohan descendent Ranjit and Chester was born in June 1983. On his maternal side he had some Siberian/Amur origin but was mostly Bengal heritage (believe sometimes he was referred to as a white Siberian Tiger but most of the time as a white Tiger as was somewhat common knowledge at the time that only Bengal Tigers could be entirely accounted for as sometimes having a leucistic individual (albeit 1-10,000 according to some odds, which is now odds that are less than the number of Tigers in the wild.. + calling him a white Tiger was most accurate given his origin was mixed subspecies).
@Zoofan15 *next door to or in Chester's usual Taronga home for Juara, Lari & Ramalon when they went on public display (can't confidently confirm which of the two adjoining old pit exhibits they went on public display in at Taronga, just remember seeing them but memory of which exhibit now faded, thought perhaps the former Lion pit one because its about 1.3x the size of the former Tiger pit one. Think Shiva was in the exhibit they and Selatan were not in for the summer of '95-'96; unless they went on display without Selatan can only remember seeing them the cubs frolocking around an exhibit which took all attention drawn to naturally.)
@Jayden8763 Yeah as ZooFan15 says, Persian Leopards are not known to have the sometimes melanistic-coat giving gene, like he said mainly Indian Leopards vast majority wise; sometimes Sri Lankan Leopards; and think some Indochinese Leopards particuarly around Malayan peninsula and occasionally a particular subpopulation of African Leopards think in a district in Kenya or Tanzania; rare accounts of Javan Leopards once in a 'blue moon'. With Persian Leopards, Amur Leopards and Arabian Leopards its not known or seen in their subspecies (a.f.a.I.k.)
@Zoofan15 found this about Chester going to Dubbo because of Kemiri's birth from this article: CAPTION ONLY: GETTING USED TO SOME NEW DIGS. Obvs' we know it was only a short term eviction like with Kemiri's brothers soon after (couldnt find photo of him from article sadly but must of been one when published in print):
'' Deseret News - Deseret Magazine UTAH, USA GETTING USED TO SOME NEW DIGS
Published: June 5, 1995, 12:00 a.m. MDT
By Deseret News
Chester, a rare white tiger, explores his new home at the Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, Australia. Chester, who was evicted from his enclosure at a zoo in Sydney to make way for a tiger cub born there in December, is free to roam the Dubbo zoo, which uses moats instead of fences to contain the animals.
''
