How long has the zoo been keeping Malayan Tigers? We visited in September 2007, and they were labelled as Indochinese. Does this mean I've actually photographed Malayan?
Also, why would the zoo not say they were Malayan???
How long has the zoo been keeping Malayan Tigers? We visited in September 2007, and they were labelled as Indochinese. Does this mean I've actually photographed Malayan?
Yes, they'd be Malayan - up until 2004 it was considered that all tigers in mainland South-east Asia were Indochinese Tigers (P. t. corbetti). When they were actually studied it was found that there were two subspecies - animals originating in Peninsular Malaysia were reclassified as P. t. jacksoni (Malayan Tigers), the name corbetti retained for those in the northern part of the range (from Thailand to southern China).
All the 'corbetti in European/North American zoos are of Malayan origin (most of the founders in Europe came from Singapore or Melaka), so were reclassified as jacksoni.
I'm not aware of any 'genuine' P. t. corbetti outside of range countries - the only places I've seen them are Hanoi and Saigon.
Your guess is as good as mine! They've never updated their identification at Berlin - whether this is scientific disbelief, stubbornness or laziness I cannot say. According to Zootierliste they received animals from Singapore and Halle in 2005 so they are definitely from the Malayan 'side' of the divide.
