Felids in Australasian Zoos – News, History and Discussion

@Hix @Zoofan15 From the sounds of it am guessing the last time there was an attempt to re-introduce Nonah & Samar together was when using Hari & Nugi's (Golden Cats) exhibit in the Jungle Cats building around November/December 1997 and would certainly of had them separated for the majority of the time using the holding yard pens behind the exhibit (ie the old Meta & Nico enclosures). Definitely saw the Clouded Leopards there in the late spring/summer of late '97 and my recollection is really firm that I saw the two of them on at least one day visit in the exhibit together (visited the zoo a lot that year). What was wondering was if Nonah and Samar took it in turns to occupy their regular hemispherical exhibit from 1994-2004/2005 in the dark corridor between Chester's exhibit (Lions from '99) and Seletan & Shiva's exhibit (later Juara & Assiqua's) where was the exhibit for keeping Nonah or Samar when the other was occupying said exhibit?, must of been an off-display one.
 
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steveroberts said:
@Hix @Zoofan15 From the sounds of it am guessing the last time there was an attempt to re-introduce Nonah & Samar together was when using Hari & Nugi's (Golden Cats) exhibit in the Jungle Cats building around November/December 1997 and would certainly of had them separated for the majority of the time using the holding yard pens behind the exhibit (ie the old Meta & Nico enclosures). Definitely saw the Clouded Leopards there in the late spring/summer of late '97 and my recollection is really firm that I saw the two of them on at least one day visit in the exhibit together (visited the zoo a lot that year). What was wondering was if Nonah and Samar took it in turns to occupy their regular hemispherical exhibit from 1994-2004/2005 in the dark corridor between Chester's exhibit (Lions from '99) and Seletan & Shiva's exhibit (later Juara & Assiqua's) where was the exhibit for keeping Nonah or Samar when the other was occupying said exhibit?, must of been an off-display one.
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Nonah was transferred to Melbourne Zoo in 2003. This was when they were 13 years old, so would have coincided with her reaching post reproductive age and Taronga giving up on breeding them. The acceptance they couldn’t be introduced would have been reached long ago through failed introductions (such as the ones you mentioned in the mid-90’s).

I see they arrived in their fourth year, so not sure if they were introduced as cubs as their birth dates imply or whether they were total strangers to each other upon arrival. The latter would explain their lack of compatibility.
 
So having got an information reply email from Taronga Western Plain they say that:

Bona the white Bengal Tiger was born at Ragunan Zoo, Java, Indonesia May 18, 1994 and arrived at Western Plain on March 28, 1996 where he lived until he died December 20, 2002 aged 8 (very young).

Chester (born Henry Doorly Zoo, Nebraska, U.S on June 18, 1983 to Obie and Ranjit) was the well known Bengal cross Siberian white Tiger (but of 75%+ Bengal bloodline although it was popular at the time for newspapers to describe him as a 'White Siberian Tiger' although no living white Siberian Tiger has ever been confirmed or any other subspecies outside of the Bengal Tiger population) as mentioned before arrived at Sydney Taronga in August or September of 1992; then he first went to stay at Western Plain on August 31, 1993 just around the time that the renovated Sumatran Tiger exhibit next door was opened to public and the Asiatic Lion exhibit around the corner (so unsure which cats might have occupied Chester's exhibit at Taronga during his time at Western Plain). From there he lived between Dubbo and Sydney and the response from WP doesn't detail a record of his transfer roster except the indication that Chester was well wanted for his stay back at Taronga Sydney around school holiday periods (he was definitely back in Sydney when I first visited the zoo in August 1994 but gone again on a later visit in late late 1994 or early 1995, I remember the month of that first visit due to remembering visiting the zoo a week after moving to Sydney from Perth).

Chester's return to Sydney from Dubbo on September 5, 1995 was his final departure from Western Plain. Apart from a brief trip to Perth Zoo from December 5, 1995 until February 15, 1996, he remained living at Sydney Taronga upon his return in February '96 until he died on November 16, 2000 aged 17.
 
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steveroberts said:
So having got an information reply email from Taronga Western Plain they say that:

Bona the white Bengal Tiger was born at Ragunan Zoo, Indonesia May 18, 1994 and arrived at Western Plain on March 28, 1996 where he lived until he died December 20, 2002 (very young).

Chester (born Henry Doorly Zoo Nebraska on June 18, 1983 to Obie and Ranjit) was the well known Bengal cross Siberian white Tiger (but of 75%+ Bengal bloodline although it was popular at the time for newspapers to describe him as a 'White Siberian Tiger' although no living white Siberian Tiger has ever been confirmed or any other subspecies outside of the Bengal Tiger population) first went to stay at Western Plain on August 31, 1993 just around the time that the renovated Sumatran Tiger exhibit next door was opened to public and the Asiatic Lion exhibit around the corner (so unsure which cats might have occupied Chester's exhibit at Taronga during his time at Western Plain). From there he lived between Dubbo and Sydney and the response from WP doesn't detail a record of his transfer roster except the indication that Chester was well wanted for his stay back at Taronga Sydney around school holiday periods (he was definitely back in Sydney when I first visited the zoo in August 1994 but gone again on a later visit in late late 1994 or early 1995, I remember the month of that first visit due to remembering visiting the zoo a week after moving to Sydney from Perth).

Chester's return to Sydney from Dubbo on September 5, 1995 was his final departure from Western Plain. Apart from a brief trip to Perth Zoo from December 5, 1995 until February 15, 1996, he remained living at Sydney Taronga upon his return in February '96 until he died on November 16, 2000 aged 17.
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The media misconception that white tigers are Siberian is at least partly due to the assumption the white coat is an evolutionary adaptation to a life in the snow (camouflage). This is the second biggest misconception regarding white tigers - the first being that they’re an endangered species. :p

The late 90’s were therefore a busy time for Dubbo with two male white tigers housed separately and a third exhibit housing the male Sumatran tiger triplets (born October 1995) that were transferred from Sydney.
 
@Zoofan15 Yes you're totally right, was definitely a busy time for Dubbo especially in 1996 with the arrival of Juara, Lari and Ramalon arriving from Taronga and Bona from Jakarta but the email did stress that Chester never returned to Dubbo after he returned to Taronga in September '95 so Chester and Bona were never at Dubbo at the same time. The keeper who emailed me actually shared that he personally started a petition to try stop the white Tiger{s} (he didn't specify if if it was Chester's arrival or Bona's arrival) coming to Dubbo as he and his fellow keepers felt that more focus should have been put towards the zoo's regular coated tigers (the orange Bengals before the Sumatran boy trio of '96) in terms of their living conditions. He said the petition was widely signed and John Kelly was very courteous (have heard he was a really nice man and widely respected director) in his response but in the end the white tiger{s} came anyway as to quote the keeper ''...The director J.Kelly was very polite in his response and came to me on section to deliver his reasoning for employing this transfer to improve visitor attendance. I am not anti – White tigers or other animals. It was the 90’s and white tigers were vogue.''

Based on this am almost certain he started the petition before Chester's first arrival in August '93.
 
steveroberts said:
@Zoofan15 Yes you're totally right, was definitely a busy time for Dubbo especially in 1996 with the arrival of Juara, Lari and Ramalon arriving from Taronga and Bona from Jakarta but the email did stress that Chester never returned to Dubbo after he returned to Taronga in September '95 so Chester and Bona were never at Dubbo at the same time. The keeper who emailed me actually shared that he personally started a petition to try stop the white Tiger{s} (he didn't specify if if it was Chester's arrival or Bona's arrival) coming to Dubbo as he and his fellow keepers felt that more focus should have been put towards the zoo's regular coated tigers (the orange Bengals before the Sumatran boy trio of '96) in terms of their living conditions. He said the petition was widely signed and John Kelly was very courteous (have heard he was a really nice man and widely respected director) in his response but in the end the white tiger{s} came anyway as to quote the keeper ''...The director J.Kelly was very polite in his response and came to me on section to deliver his reasoning for employing this transfer to improve visitor attendance. I am not anti – White tigers or other animals. It was the 90’s and white tigers were vogue.''

Based on this am almost certain he started the petition before Chester's first arrival in August '93.
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Postcards from the Zoo states the white tigers were phased out to concentrate on the critically endangered Sumatran tiger - even though this species had been kept at Taronga Zoo since 1979 (21 years before Chester’s death).

The hybrids were phased out to make way for the Sumatrans. They bred several generations of hybrids (right up until when Nico and Meta arrived) and likely believed they were purebred as they were described as Sumatrans in news articles from the time.
 
Yeah I would have made the same call for Sumatran Tiger conservation focus if had been in the NSW zoo board's shoes also. Though technically pure Bengal Tigers, Siberian Tigers, Indochinese Tigers and the 2004 identified Malayan Tigers need breeding focus at zoos around the world too (apparently South Chinese Tigers are now functionally extinct due to severe inbreeding in captivity, real shame, hope its not true or can be solved before the last dies). In terms of white Tigers it is true that their history of severe inbreeding has made a lot of individuals suffer a myriad of genetic disorders and health problems and apparently a lot of their orange siblings are killed off in the less than reputable animal facilities that still breed white Tigers as visitor drawcards. In my opinion think that some zoos could keep a white Bengal tiger along with a regular orange Bengal tiger mate as they would be outcrossing breeding in terms of conservation while keeping the white gene which is part of the Bengal's genetic diversity (albeit exceedingly rare naturally at, what is it again, 1/10,000) but the white Bengal Tigers used in a global Bengal Tiger captive breeding program would need to be individuals with the least amount of close inbredness in their bloodline (which apparently now some white Bengal Tigers are being born who have a much more heterozygous personal gene makeup than the individuals rampantly bred in prior decades, though unfortunately there still are white Tiger birthing 'mills' in horrible institutions like the ones shown in 'Tiger King', best thing for those poor individuals is to let them live out their days in the decent rescue zoos and not breed them anymore).

RE: Dubbo petition - I gather the original Tigers at Western Plain were the generic Tigers from Taronga that went to live at Dubbo in the 1980s and were displayed as Bengals (I think Taronga continued to keep their mixed origin 'Sumatrans' next door to Meta and Nico and at least one or two individuals in the 'Tiger Pit' until they passed away naturally or euthanasia during the '80s, for example I think the offspring of Meta and Nico who went on to occupy their own enclosures in pens adjacent to their parents one in the old 'Big Cat Building' like Shiva for instance, I believe they took up enclosures that had recently become empty by the passing of a mixed origin 'Sumatran' Tiger like Quintus the III or IV?). But there's at least one article from the '80s about Western Plain that mentions their (Dubbo's) 'Bengal' tigers. So it's these Tigers I gather the Dubbo keepers wanted better focus on instead of Chester coming to stay at Dubbo (and take up valuable space) as the brother trio of in '96 were I believe Dubbo's first Sumatran Tigers they had. Imagine the only Bengal Tiger ever kept at Dubbo that wasn't of mixed subspecies origins was Bona (I believe he was a heavily inbred individual from the Mohan descendents and the so called Orissa white Tigers that were in actual fact also descended from Mohan too like all white Tigers in captivity).
 
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Zorro said:
I seem to remember that Chester was on loan to Sydney from the US for a time but as I remember became a huge drawcard and was allowed to stay permanently
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Chester certainly did the rounds - not just between the two Taronga sites but Perth Zoo as well. Perth Zoo were excited to display him alongside Calang the male Sumatran to allow visitors the opportunity to compare and contrast the two in terms of size and colour.

White tigers soon took off in the region with Dreamworld importing 2.1 in 1995 and Zion Wildlife Gardens importing 3.1 in 2001.

It’ll be interesting to see if Dreamworld breed their two young white tiger females to the orange males to create a heterozygous cross as @steveroberts suggested. Two heterozygotes (ideally not siblings) could then be crossed to produce approx 25% white tigers (homozygous recessive) per litter.
 
Babirusa said:
Why do several Australian zoos breed and maintain hybrids currently?
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Only 7 Australasian zoos currently hold hybrids; compared to 17 that hold purebred Sumatrans.

Dreamworld had a brief but memorable stint at breeding Sumatran tigers, but have gone back to breeding hybrids as they’re not restricted by the recommendations made by the species coordinator of the Sumatran tiger breeding programme. In short, they want a regular supply of cubs to bring in the visitors.

Australia Zoo started off with a similar mindset - but by virtue of being able to import tigers from Indonesia, they’ve been granted regular breeding recommendations and haven’t brought in a hybrid in over a decade.

Others like the new Sydney Zoo were apparently grateful with whatever they could get - an elderly male Sumatran tiger and a middle aged hybrid female.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Chester certainly did the rounds - not just between the two Taronga sites but Perth Zoo as well. Perth Zoo were excited to display him alongside Calang the male Sumatran to allow visitors the opportunity to compare and contrast the two in terms of size and colour.

White tigers soon took off in the region with Dreamworld importing 2.1 in 1995 and Zion Wildlife Gardens importing 3.1 in 2001.

It’ll be interesting to see if Dreamworld breed their two young white tiger females to the orange males to create a heterozygous cross as @steveroberts suggested. Two heterozygotes (ideally not siblings) could then be crossed to produce approx 25% white tigers (homozygous recessive) per litter.
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I would be very surprised if they bred white to white I believe its been the trend with a lot of holders to breed white to normal orange
 
Has anyone else read about the examining of the mitochondrial dna of Tigers (I think it was 2017? will have to find the reports again online) that concluded the subspecies categorising would most accurately be down to two subspecies - the Sunda Tigers of which Sumatrans are the survivors with Balinese and Javan now extinct (I think Sumatrans have inherited the Javan's tigris sondaica scientific name now); and the Asian Mainland Tiger that includes all the other subspecies.

(Side note: Personally I still refer to the numerous subspecies like in a post from earlier today as is easy to forget this recent shift and also am yet aware of any zoo that has begun classifying or breeding their Tigers in relation this major subspecies alteration theory, which I don't blame them for not following it either, its a big shift).
 
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Zorro said:
I would be very surprised if they bred white to white I believe its been the trend with a lot of holders to breed white to normal orange
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You’re right. Dreamworld bred a white tiger to a heterozygous orange tigress to produce a litter which included a white cub (as opposed to breeding their white tigers with their white tigress).

Only the Lion Man has bred white tiger to white tiger.

Dreamworld’s white tigers are two sisters, so will have to bred with orange males. The orange males are homozygous dominant however, so any first generation offspring will be orange.
 
steveroberts said:
Has anyone else read about the examining of the mitochondrial dna of Tigers (I think it was 2017? will have to find the reports again online) that concluded the subspecies categorising would most accurately be down to two subspecies - the Sunda Tigers of which Sumatrans are the survivors with Balinese and Javan now extinct (I think Sumatrans have inherited the Javan's tigris sondaica scientific name now); and the Asian Mainland Tiger that includes all the other subspecies.
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Oh yes. I believe they’ve been officially reclassified, but nobody follows it. It will have no impact on the Sumatran tiger breeding programme bar calling them something else; but only fool would amalgamate the captive Siberians, Bengals and Malayans of the world to produce what will be known as hybrids as soon as everything gets reclassified a decade from now.

The morphological differences of the subspecies are so distinct, irregardless of what mitochondrial evidence suggests.
 
Zoofan15 said:
You’re right. Dreamworld bred a white tiger to a heterozygous orange tigress to produce a litter which included a white cub (as opposed to breeding their white tigers with their white tigress).

Only the Lion Man has bred white tiger to white tiger.

Dreamworld’s white tigers are two sisters, so will have to bred with orange males. The orange males are homozygous dominant however, so any first generation offspring will be orange.
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I guess I could be wrong but I believe there are less tigers to go around in the regions zoos than a few year’s ago and even less litters
 
@Zoofan15 I agree with you 100 percent, think the breeding approach should continue as is with some zoos focusing on Siberian, Malayan, Bengal (not many with Indochinese or South Chinese) and our regions continuation with Sumatrans in line with Europe and Indonesia and some other world zoos etc.
 
steveroberts said:
@Zoofan15 I agree with you 100 percent, think the breeding approach should continue as is with some zoos focusing on Siberian, Malayan, Bengal (not many with Indochinese or South Chinese) and our regions continuation with Sumatrans in line with Europe and Indonesia and some other world zoos etc.
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Focussing on Sumatrans is just commonsense given Australasia’s climate. I would have loved to have seen the Siberians we used to have at Wellington, Adelaide etc. but they were less suited to our climate and Australasia has enough trouble managing the felid species we have.
 
Zorro said:
I guess I could be wrong but I believe there are less tigers to go around in the regions zoos than a few year’s ago and even less litters
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You’re right, we’re down to 41 Sumatran tigers now compared to the population peaking in the 50’s around 10-15 years ago. Several of the recent pairings have been unsuccessful, partly due to the trend of breeding with older females.

Auckland Zoo’s import will be an exciting input of fresh genetics and hopefully see them welcome their first cubs since 2008 in the not so distant future.
 
Zoofan15 said:
You’re right, we’re down to 41 Sumatran tigers now compared to the population peaking in the 50’s around 10-15 years ago. Several of the recent pairings have been unsuccessful, partly due to the trend of breeding with older females.

Auckland Zoo’s import will be an exciting input of fresh genetics and hopefully see them welcome their first cubs since 2008 in the not so distant future.
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Then its surprising that WPZ at Dubbo expanded its tiger complex some year’s ago i believe to hold larger numbers for breeding so I wonder what happened to that plan :rolleyes:
 
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