Australia Zoo Sumatran Tiger pregnancy

Ok I'm pleased that Australia Zoo is going to have cubs, and that the mother is one of the wild born tigers, as the article says, Kaitlyn is considered one of the most genetically valuable individuals in the world;
But why did they mate her with Ramalon. Of course he is fertile, he already has six living offspring. His full brothers have offspring, in fact he is from a bloodline that is SO overrepresented it is not funny. There are other male tigers that they could have mated her with that aren't so over represented.
 
I would have liked ozz to have mated with her or her sister breeding her with Ramalon not the best plan if they had breed her with ozz then her cubs could have breed with any one besides Jalur Beranni and Cinta that would have been the best opotion
 
I am sure there is a good reason behind the pairing; either way, it is fantastic news (lets not count our tigers before they hatch) that the female tiger's genes will be entering the breeding program.
 
Animalgeek said:
I would have liked ozz to have mated with her or her sister breeding her with Ramalon not the best plan if they had breed her with ozz then her cubs could have breed with any one besides Jalur Beranni and Cinta that would have been the best opotion
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Exactly, i guess it could still happen though
 
I'm sure they have their reasons for who they decided to mate her to.

If the zoo staff are anyone like me with my cat breeding, they will have planned to 5 generations from now.
 
Australia Zoo mourns the loss of unborn Sumatran tiger cubs | Ipswich Queensland Times
27 April 2013

AUSTRALIA Zoo is saddened to announce that Kaitlyn the Sumatran tigerhas lost her tiger cubs early in her pregnancy. Kaitlyn was due to deliver the cubs in late June.

Staff and vets at Australia Zoo have been closely monitoring Kaitlyn's health since she began mating with Ramalon in early March.

Head Tiger Keeper, Giles Clark has said all indications were that Kaitlyn and her cubs were growing healthy and strong until a few days ago.

"We have been monitoring Kaitlyn very closely. A couple of days ago we found there were some changes in her hormones. After monitoring her further, we have discovered unfortunately she has lost the cubs," Giles said.

As with any animal, just like in the wild, there is always an element of risk that things won't work out as planned, but thankfully Kaitlyn is doing really well.

"Kaitlyn is fine," Giles said. "She is happy and healthy and there have been no changes in her behaviour. There has been no effect to her health in any way."

Kaitlyn is considered one of the most genetically valuable individuals in the world; with less than 500 Sumatran tigers left in the wild, breeding in captivity is crucial for the future of the species.

"When the time is right she may try again for more cubs, and we are optimistic we will have cubs in the future," Giles said.

The Australia Zoo family dearly loves Kaitlyn and want to thank the public for their ongoing support at this difficult time.
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In fact, Sumatran tiger pregnancy length is 3-4 months, so she must have gotten pregnant straight after she lost the other litter!

No idea if it's the same with big cats, but I breed pedigree British Shorthairs, and if we do a back to back mating like this, it usually produces larger than average litter size.
 
FriendOfTheZoo said:
In fact, Sumatran tiger pregnancy length is 3-4 months, so she must have gotten pregnant straight after she lost the other litter!

No idea if it's the same with big cats, but I breed pedigree British Shorthairs, and if we do a back to back mating like this, it usually produces larger than average litter size.
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Tigers can get pregnant within days of losing a cub, as can lions etc. It'd be great if Kaitlyn had a large litter, not sure if the zoo would allow her to raise them or whether they would handraise them. It will be interesting to see how Kaitlyn reacts to them, being handraised, but socialised with her species from a young age.
 
According to the news she didn't actually 'lose' the cubs but reabsobed the feotus back into her body. Wiouldn't it solve some problems if humans could do that.
 
Twin babies have arrived:
1150860_10151805899882432_181759195_n.jpg
 
According to the zoos facebook page:

It's twins! Sumatran tiger twins were born on 22 August 2013 at 5:39pm at Australia Zoo by natural delivery. Mum Kaitlyn and father Ramalon, along with auntie Maneki and uncle Bashii, would like to thank all Australia Zoo staff.

Mum and cubs will be taking visitors from late October
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There is also a photo on there.
 
nanoboy said:
Did you two post at the same time? :p
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Must have done!

The cubs have been sexed as two boys.

And they were sexed by a tiger keeper who went into the den with the mother. Four days after the cubs were born. Not sure what I think about that, seems a bit "Lion Man"-esque to me. :confused:
 
zooboy28 said:
Must have done!

The cubs have been sexed as two boys.

And they were sexed by a tiger keeper who went into the den with the mother. Four days after the cubs were born. Not sure what I think about that, seems a bit "Lion Man"-esque to me. :confused:
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I saw a clip of a recorded interview over the weekend from a few months ago that was done on live morning TV. The guys were in the enclosure with her and were feeding her milk from a baby bottle. She seemed pretty tame...
 
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