Australasian Sumatran Tiger Population

steveroberts said:
@Zoofan15 @Zorro Sadly :(, wonder what the time length span might be like for Sydney Zoo and Ballarat Wildlife Park before they see a Tiger return to their care?
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I’m thinking Sydney Zoo have a plan given they’ve transferred out their hybrid tiger. Both facilities potentially could apply to join the Sri Lankan leopard breeding programme - but since Sydney Zoo were initially planning to import a Sumatran tiger from the US, my assumption is they’re committed to this species.
 
Both Zoos would be very unlikely to be replacing tigers with leopards IMO, not sure about Victoria’s requirements but NSW requires fully roofed exhibits for all leopards.
 
Regional Updates

Sali at Auckland Zoo has been returned to Hamilton Zoo. Presumably Auckland Zoo want to maximise their available space for the introductions and breeding of Ramah and Zayana.

Scout will be transferring to Hamilton Zoo (not Reggie). Orana Wildlife Park intend to import a female to breed with Reggie (the more valuable of the two males).

Information reported by @Matt_C in the Hamilton Zoo news thread.

Though not confirmed, with three female tigers who will require seperate housing, Hamilton is now at capacity and is unlikely to breed. Potentially Scout could be integrated with Sali or Kirana (likely Kirana) to form a non breeding pair; but this still wouldn’t allow them space to breed without expanding their facilities.
 
The plan seemed to be for Scout and Kirana to breed though there is a lot of concern with Kiranas advancing age.

I would speculate from the conversation scout will not come till Mencari passes, and that they will phase out the hunting dogs in favour of a third tiger exhibit needed for a breeding programme.
 
Matt_C said:
The plan seemed to be for Scout and Kirana to breed though there is a lot of concern with Kiranas advancing age.

I would speculate from the conversation scout will not come till Mencari passes, and that they will phase out the hunting dogs in favour of a third tiger exhibit needed for a breeding programme.
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Once Mencari passes, they could potentially replicate the same formula as before of breeding the young pair and then housing the male with the elder female, while the female raises the cubs - however, this would depend on the comparability of those involved. They got lucky with Oz and Mencari.

There’s also off display cages in the larger exhibit, so potentially they could still hold three groupings (rotating) with Sali, Kirana (and cubs) and Scout - though having all tigers outdoors is preferable.

I hope Hamilton Zoo don’t scrap the African wild dog exhibit to build a third tiger exhibit. It’d do little to enhance the region and it’s not essential to breed them when so many other zoos have the capacity to do so - Auckland, Taronga, Orana etc.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Once Mencari passes, they could potentially replicate the same formula as before of breeding the young pair and then housing the male with the elder female, while the female raises the cubs - however, this would depend on the comparability of those involved. They got lucky with Oz and Mencari.

There’s also off display cages in the larger exhibit, so potentially they could still hold three groupings (rotating) with Sali, Kirana (and cubs) and Scout - though having all tigers outdoors is preferable.

I hope Hamilton Zoo don’t scrap the African wild dog exhibit to build a third tiger exhibit. It’d do little to enhance the region and it’s not essential to breed them when so many other zoos have the capacity to do so - Auckland, Taronga, Orana etc.
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Would sending Kirana to Orana Park be an option? Seems Hamilton might be best holding Mencari and sali for a while then starting fresh.
 
Matt_C said:
Would sending Kirana to Orana Park be an option? Seems Hamilton might be best holding Mencari and sali for a while then starting fresh.
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They would still have to re-home one of the males though. No obvious place in New Zealand currently so they would have to go back to Australia
 
Matt_C said:
Would sending Kirana to Orana Park be an option? Seems Hamilton might be best holding Mencari and sali for a while then starting fresh.
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Nisha said:
They would still have to re-home one of the males though. No obvious place in New Zealand currently so they would have to go back to Australia
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I think sending Kirana to Australia is the best option. It’s an option not possible with Mencari and Sali due to their age, whereas Kirana is eight years old and there’s still time to pair her with a male.

It appears Sydney Zoo wish to acquire a breeding pair - so Kirana could be joined by Nelson (three year old male) to form a similar match with Scout if that’s the desire.

Alternatively, Senja could be sent to Sydney as a non breeding tiger and Kirana could take her place at Wellington to breed with Bashi. Aside from breeding from an unrepresented founder, it’d mean not making the third pairing of an offspring of Kaitlyn with a Nico-Meta descendant - the second of which (Kembali x Delilah) is the exact same match to what Scout and Kirana would be.
 
Australia Zoo/Sydney Zoo Update

As mentioned by @Patrick Keegan in the Sydney Zoo news thread, Australia Zoo have transferred their 1.2 generic tigers to Sydney Zoo.

While disappointingly this means Sydney Zoo will not be receiving Sumatran tigers anytime soon, this transfer frees up space for Australia Zoo to continue with their breeding programme.

Kaitlyn (2007) is now post reproductive, so the breeding programme will continue through her remaining offspring:

1.0 Nelson (03/06/2019) Ranu x Kaitlyn
1.0 Malcolm (18/02/2020) Ranu x Kaitlyn
0.1 Sallie (18/02/2020) Ranu x Kaitlyn
0.1 Sage (18/02/2020) Ranu x Kaitlyn

Their next move will be interesting. Historically, they’ve brought in males to breed with their (hand-raised) females. This allows them to be hands on with the tigresses during their pregnancies. Therefore, I’d assume the future of the breeding programme will involve sourcing a male to breed with Kaitlyn’s daughters.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Australia Zoo/Sydney Zoo Update

As mentioned by @Patrick Keegan in the Sydney Zoo news thread, Australia Zoo have transferred their 1.2 generic tigers to Sydney Zoo.

While disappointingly this means Sydney Zoo will not be receiving Sumatran tigers anytime soon, this transfer frees up space for Australia Zoo to continue with their breeding programme.

Kaitlyn (2007) is now post reproductive, so the breeding programme will continue through her remaining offspring:

1.0 Nelson (03/06/2019) Ranu x Kaitlyn
1.0 Malcolm (18/02/2020) Ranu x Kaitlyn
0.1 Sallie (18/02/2020) Ranu x Kaitlyn
0.1 Sage (18/02/2020) Ranu x Kaitlyn

Their next move will be interesting. Historically, they’ve brought in males to breed with their (hand-raised) females. This allows them to be hands on with the tigresses during their pregnancies. Therefore, I’d assume the future of the breeding programme will involve sourcing a male to breed with Kaitlyn’s daughters.
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I'd like to see Bashi returned to Australia Zoo as the next breeding male. There aren't really any other good options otherwise, unless they elect to import first generation offspring of Ramah and Zayana which will still be another three, four years away.

Nelson and Malcolm could then both be sent to NZ; one being paired up with Senja at Wellington and the other potentially joining Reggie at Orana.

Bashi's a very valuable founder, so it would be a shame if he isn't breed. Obviously the situation isn't there for him at Wellington, and there aren't any other options within NZ so sending him over to Australia where there are multiple options makes the most sense.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Australia Zoo/Sydney Zoo Update

As mentioned by @Patrick Keegan in the Sydney Zoo news thread, Australia Zoo have transferred their 1.2 generic tigers to Sydney Zoo.

While disappointingly this means Sydney Zoo will not be receiving Sumatran tigers anytime soon, this transfer frees up space for Australia Zoo to continue with their breeding programme.

Kaitlyn (2007) is now post reproductive, so the breeding programme will continue through her remaining offspring:

1.0 Nelson (03/06/2019) Ranu x Kaitlyn
1.0 Malcolm (18/02/2020) Ranu x Kaitlyn
0.1 Sallie (18/02/2020) Ranu x Kaitlyn
0.1 Sage (18/02/2020) Ranu x Kaitlyn

Their next move will be interesting. Historically, they’ve brought in males to breed with their (hand-raised) females. This allows them to be hands on with the tigresses during their pregnancies. Therefore, I’d assume the future of the breeding programme will involve sourcing a male to breed with Kaitlyn’s daughters.
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Bringing in a male would also allow him to breed with both Sallie and Sage, who will be getting close to the age of sexual maturity. It will be interesting to see whether the changes at Dreamworld will have any changes on Australia Zoo's plans.

I agree that breeding Bashi and Kirana would be a good move, although I wonder whether that option hasn't been considered due to his age.
 
Jambo said:
I'd like to see Bashi returned to Australia Zoo as the next breeding male. There aren't really any other good options otherwise, unless they elect to import first generation offspring of Ramah and Zayana which will still be another three, four years away.

Nelson and Malcolm could then both be sent to NZ; one being paired up with Senja at Wellington and the other potentially joining Reggie at Orana.

Bashi's a very valuable founder, so it would be a shame if he isn't breed. Obviously the situation isn't there for him at Wellington, and there aren't any other options within NZ so sending him over to Australia where there are multiple options makes the most sense.
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It’d be good to see Bashi breed, but it won’t be at Australia Zoo. Aside from the fact he’s the uncle of the two young females, he’s 15 years old and overseas travel would be inadvisable.

My preference would be to see Senja (2010) replaced with Kirana (2014) at Wellington, with Senja sent to Ballarat as a non breeding tiger to live out her remaining years. This would in turn free up space at Hamilton to receive Scout (2016) - who would be non breeding for now and allow Orana to import a female - which is the priority.
Abbey said:
Bringing in a male would also allow him to breed with both Sallie and Sage, who will be getting close to the age of sexual maturity. It will be interesting to see whether the changes at Dreamworld will have any changes on Australia Zoo's plans.

I agree that breeding Bashi and Kirana would be a good move, although I wonder whether that option hasn't been considered due to his age.
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I’m thinking either an overseas import or a male from Auckland’s first litter will be the way to go. The latter would delay breeding until at least 2027, when the females are seven years old - but by that time the three elderly Sumatran tigers would have passed.

Space isn’t at a premium at Australia Zoo, with the departure of the 1.2 generics - but if they’re considering a switch to protected contact (like Dreamworld), this may impact numbers they hold in the future.
 
steveroberts said:
@Zoofan15

Good for Delilah (and Adelaide Zoo too) hope everything goes well for her birthing and cubs.
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Zoofan15 said:
It’s very exciting. This will be Adelaide Zoo’s first litter of Sumatran tigers and the first born in the region in two years.

Staff are expecting 1-6 cubs according to their media release, but no litter in the region has ever exceeded four cubs so that must have been a throwaway comment.
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steveroberts said:
@Zoofan15

Yeah sounds like a throwaway comment probably taken from a written record somewhere of the most cubs born at one time to a Sumatran Tigress (albeit probably a one off incident and would grimly imagine at least half of a litter of six may not have survived unfortunately). But back to optimism, thanks heaps for sharing the news and if all goes well for Delilah and her cubs will be a wonderful early Christmas gift/present for Adelaide Zoo (well at least for the staff and for Delilah as cubs will be too young to obviously be seen my visitors, but with cameras and the internet would imagine footage of the cubs would be available first of course).
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To my knowledge, there’s been four incidences of Sumatran tiger quadruplets born within Australasian facilities:

1983: Nico x Meta - one survived (rejected, handraised)
1985: Nico x Meta - one survived (rejected, handraised)
2008: Hari x Setia - one survived (rejected, handraised)
2010: Ramalon x Binjai - all survived (parent raised)

The mortality rate of quadruplets does appear to be higher and the rejection of a litter consisting of a single cub (either through occurrence of a single birth or death of littermates) often results in the rejection of the cub due to milk supply issues.

This has occurred numerous times both regionally and internationally and is believed to be a natural phenomenon, aimed at ensuring a tigress does not waste 18-24 months of resources on rearing a single cub, when she could be rearing multiple.
 
Birth Announcement: Delilah has given birth at Adelaide Zoo

Congratulations to Adelaide Zoo on the birth of their first litter of Sumatran tigers - which are also the first Sumatran tiger cubs born in the region in almost three years.

Tiger cubs born at Adelaide Zoo - Zoos SA

It gives us great joy to share with you that three tiny and stripy tiger cubs were born to Sumatran Tiger Delilah on Wednesday 21 December!

Both mum and cubs are healthy, and first-time mum Delilah is already nursing and caring for her trio!
 
Sumatran Tiger Population - 2022/2023 Summary

2022 Summary:

It’s been an eventful end to the year for the region’s Sumatran tiger population:

Auckland Zoo imported Ramah (2017) and Zayana (2018) from the United States in November. This is the first import of a breeding pair at the same time since 1979 and the first time the region has imported from North America.

Adelaide Zoo welcomed their first litter of Sumatran tiger cubs in December to first time parents, Kembali (2014) and Delilah (2016). The triplets are thriving, with Delilah proving an excellent mother.

Sydney Zoo and Ballarat Wildlife phased out Sumatran tiger with the deaths of their elderly males in November and December respectively. It appears they’ll focus on generics for the foreseeable, which is disappointing.

Mencari (2000) at Hamilton Zoo exceeded the regional longevity record in August, that was previously set by her cousin, Kemiri (1994-2017). She continues to set a new regional longevity record each day she’s alive and is the second oldest Sumatran tiger in the world.

Auckland Zoo opened their new tiger complex in April. The complex will allow them to house up to seven tigers across three exhibits and is the second largest in the region.

2023 Summary:

It appears the only facility likely to breed in 2023 is Auckland Zoo, with Ramah and Zayana hopefully producing their first litter.

Orana Wildlife Park are hopeful of transferring Scout (2016) to Hamilton Zoo, so they can import a female to breed with Reggie (2016).

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Please note: This summary will be followed next month by a full population list update.
 
Australasian Sumatran Tiger Population 2023

New Zealand

Auckland Zoo:

1.0 Ramah (08/07/2017) Imported 2022
0.1 Zayana (15/10/2018) Imported 2022

Hamilton Zoo:

0.1 Mencari (10/01/2000) Jambi x Cantic
0.1 Sali (10/04/2008) Hari x Setia
0.1 Kirana (16/11/2014) Oz x Sali

Wellington Zoo:

1.0 Bashi (04/12/2007) Imported 2008
0.1 Senja (21/08/2010) Lari x Soraya

Orana Wildlife Park:

1.0 Scout (08/02/2016) Juma x Kaitlyn
1.0 Reggie (31/03/2016) Satu x Maneki

Australia

Adelaide Zoo:

1.0 Kembali (16/11/2014) Oz x Sali
0.1 Delilah (08/02/2016) Juma x Kaitlyn
0.0.1 Unnamed (21/12/2022) Kembali x Delilah
0.0.1 Unnamed (21/12/2022) Kembali x Delilah
0.0.1 Unnamed (21/12/2022) Kembali x Delilah

Australia Zoo:

1.0 Juma (01/04/2004) Lari x Malu
1.0 Ranu (01/04/2004) Lari x Malu
0.1 Singha (01/04/2004) Lari x Malu
0.1 Kaitlyn (04/12/2007) Imported 2008
1.0 Hunter (22/08/2013) Ramalon x Kaitlyn
1.0 Nelson (03/06/2019) Ranu x Kaitlyn
1.0 Malcolm (18/02/2020) Ranu x Kaitlyn
0.1 Sallie (18/02/2020) Ranu x Kaitlyn
0.1 Sage (18/02/2020) Ranu x Kaitlyn

Darling Downs Zoo:

0.1 Rani (09/02/2010) Ramalon x Binjai

Dreamworld:

0.1 Jaya (09/06/2008) Raja x Soraya
0.1 Shanti (09/06/2008) Raja x Soraya

Melbourne Zoo:

1.0 Hutan (09/02/2010) Ramalon x Binjai
0.1 Indrah (09/02/2010) Ramalon x Binjai

Mogo Zoo:

1.0 Mati (21/08/2010) Lari x Soraya
1.0 Indra (21/08/2010) Lari x Soraya

National Zoo:

0.1 Ndari (09/06/2008) Raja x Soraya
1.0 Aceh (09/02/2010) Ramalon x Binjai

Perth Zoo:

1.0 Jaya (20/08/2008) Hari x Setia

Taronga Zoo:

1.0 Kembali (20/08/2011) Satu x Jumilah
0.1 Kartika (20/08/2011) Satu x Jumilah
1.0 Clarence (22/08/2013) Ramalon x Kaitlyn
1.0 Pemanah (17/01/2019) Clarence x Kartika
0.1 Mawar (17/01/2019) Clarence x Kartika
0.1 Tengah Malam (17/01/2019) Clarence x Kartika

Taronga Western Plains Zoo:

1.0 Satu (28/10/2006) Ramalon x Binjai
0.1 Indah (31/03/2007) Raja x Soraya
1.0 Sakti (20/08/2011) Satu x Jumilah

Tasmania Zoo:

1.0 Jalur (12/06/2008) Oz x Molek
0.1 Cinta (12/06/2008) Oz x Molek

Total regional population: 21.20.3

Note: Year of import into the region is given for all tigers imported from outside of Australasia; rather than parentage.
 
Mencari Celebrates 23rd birthday

Aging Hamilton Zoo tiger turns 23

Mencari celebrates her 23rd birthday today, becoming the first Sumatran tiger in Australasia to do so.

Eldest Sumatran tigers in Australasia

0.1 Mencari (10/01/2000) Jambi x Cantic
1.0 Juma (01/04/2004) Lari x Malu
1.0 Ranu (01/04/2004) Lari x Malu
0.1 Singha (01/04/2004) Lari x Malu
1.0 Satu (28/10/2006) Ramalon x Binjai
 
Zoofan15 said:
Birth Announcement: Delilah has given birth at Adelaide Zoo

Congratulations to Adelaide Zoo on the birth of their first litter of Sumatran tigers - which are also the first Sumatran tiger cubs born in the region in almost three years.

Tiger cubs born at Adelaide Zoo - Zoos SA

It gives us great joy to share with you that three tiny and stripy tiger cubs were born to Sumatran Tiger Delilah on Wednesday 21 December!

Both mum and cubs are healthy, and first-time mum Delilah is already nursing and caring for her trio!
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The cubs have been revealed to be one male and two females as reported in the Adelaide news thread!:)
 
Jambo said:
The cubs have been revealed to be one male and two females as reported in the Adelaide news thread!:)
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It’s good news Adelaide Zoo’s litter is 1.2 cubs as aside from creating more options for pairings, depending on whether they need a male or a female to make a future pair; it’s preferable to making pairings from tigers raised in litters with opposite sex siblings for behavioural reasons.

Congratulations to Adelaide Zoo on their thriving litter of cubs:

1.0 Unnamed (21/12/2022) Kembali x Delilah
0.1 Unnamed (21/12/2022) Kembali x Delilah
0.1 Unnamed (21/12/2022) Kembali x Delilah
 
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