Thanks Nisha for the news, sad to hearshe was one of my favorite tigers ( she born in Rotterdam). Do you know what was wrong with her?
Does anyone know when the first wild Sumatran Tigers were caught for captivity. I dont mind hearing about any origin stories of the zoo Sumatran families it doesnt have to necessarily just have to be the first. For instance being from Australia i always assumed that being in close proximity to Sumatra we might have been the first country outside Asia perhaps to display them (or maybe Netherlands because of Dutch East Indies history) but was interested to read how Meta and Nico the old Taronga zoo Sumatrans came from Rotterdam in 1979. Does anyone have info (the more the better) about the individual Tigers which were probably/definitely important in pioneering of the large zoo family/s of Sumatran generations up til present day.
p.s was interested by this: 5 Tigers : Sumatran Tiger and how apparently only 37 wild caught Sumatrans are responsible for the present zoo individuals. Does that mean inevitably more wild Sumatrans will have to be introduced in zoos to diversify the gene pools??
Just had a quick look at the Sumatran Tiger Stud Book and the earliest entries are as follows (bear in mind that many stud books were created "after the event" and so the data they have to put in is only as good as the records kept by collections)
stud numbers #1 to #5 were all tigers wild caught in Sumatra - date unrecorded and transferred to Rotterdam Zoo 1948.
Animals are:
#1 male "DELI"
#2 female un-named
#3 female un-named
#4 female "SLIMME"
#5 female un-named
the next animals are a pair that were again wild caught in Sumatra with an estimated birth year of 1951 / 1953. These were both transferred to Berlin TP in 1956
#6 Male CAESAR
#7 Female LISSY
all of these animals obviously had 'double wild' parents
not a lot of info to go on but somehope it helps
No thankyou it helps alotit seems that the Dutch zoological authorities acted on importing wild caught Sumatrans at a time period immediately before their government lost authority over the Indonesian islands, maybe just a coincidence. I read somewhere online not long ago that Javan zoos had Javan Tigers prior to World War 2 and after the war finished i dont know how the Javans died in captivity obviously either age or war time neglect but afterwards apparently they (the zoos) settled for capturing Sumatran Tigers rather as were more likely to locate in the wild due to higher numbers. Hey does anyone know what the oldest Sumatran Tiger parents have been in captivity (like 17 or 18 years old?) in Australia the average generational gap between Tiger parents and cubs seems to be about 7-10 years. I know Melbourne born Seletan became a mother at 4 years old and her niece in Perth who's name I cant recall (died this year sadly) had her first litter at 6.
Meta (b 1975?) and Nico (b 1976?) from Rotterdam to Taronga in 79 had their last cubs (cant remember if it was 2 or 3) in 1988 when they would have been about 12/13 years old. They (Meta and Nico) actually died only two years after these cubs apparently in 1990. Also these cubs were the reason a zookeeper at Taronga was mauled to death by Meta and Nico in Dec 1988 when she tried to photograph the cubs and there was an issue with a gate suppose to keep the adult Tigers at bay.
You got me curious so I had a quick search and pulled up the following:
META b) 1975
NICO b) 1976
Cubs from the pairing totals 19 of which 11 DNS past a month or so
12 OCT 1980
3 cubs
1 DNS
M: MANDAU moved to Tokyo 1982 d) aug 1990
F: MUSARA moved to Tokyo 1982 d) Nov 2001
17 DEC 1982
3 cubs
3 DNS (1F, 1?. 1?)
2 DEC 1983
4 cubs
3 DNS (2?, 1M)
SINTA moved to San Diego Zoo Nov 1986 d)Nov 1986
12 MAR 1985
4 cubs
2 DNS (? sex)
F: LUNKA d) Apr 1985
F: USHA moved San Diego Zoo Nov 1987, to San Diego WAP Oct 1992 d) Apr 1997
6 SEPT 1985
3 cubs
1 DNS (? sex)
SHIVA d) Mar 2002 Sydney
KALI moved SD Zoo Jul 1987, SD WAP Nov 1987, SD Zoo Nov 1987, loan PANAMA Aug 94, loan OMAHA Jan 98, d) Jan 2008
23 Nov 1988
2 cubs
M: JAMBI moved to Wellington Dec 1992 d)Nov 2001
F: d) Mar 1989
I was really excited to read this post as I have been trying to find out this info for years. Is the Sumatran Tiger Studbook available online? I've tried to find it for a while. I had no idea some of the litters contained four cubs.
If not, please could you look up the offspring of Shiva (M85) and Selatan (F90)? I was always taught in school they had four cubs but I've since found evidence to suggest their 1994 litter contained two cubs...I would be interested to know and if their 1995 litter was the last.
SHIVA M b) sept 1985 sydney
SELATAN F b) nov 1990 melbourne
offspring recorded are:
Nov 1994 2 cubs
M dns,
F KEMIRI (currently at adelaide?)
Oct 1995 3 cubs all M
RAMALON - currently Beerwah
LARI - currently Mogo
JUARA - currently Dubbo
May 2001 2 cubs unknown sexes both dns
thats all I have![]()
Female, Bethari (born 16/5/2015) has moved to Aalborg from Ree Park this week.
Unfortunately to make room for her the decision was made to euthanize male, Khai (born 9/11/2014) due his parents genes being over-represented within the EEP. Leaving Aalborg with his father, Batu and the new female for now
No news yet on the destination of Bethari's brothers
Does anyone know when the first wild Sumatran Tigers were caught for captivity. I dont mind hearing about any origin stories of the zoo Sumatran families it doesnt have to necessarily just have to be the first. For instance being from Australia i always assumed that being in close proximity to Sumatra we might have been the first country outside Asia perhaps to display them (or maybe Netherlands because of Dutch East Indies history) but was interested to read how Meta and Nico the old Taronga zoo Sumatrans came from Rotterdam in 1979. Does anyone have info (the more the better) about the individual Tigers which were probably/definitely important in pioneering of the large zoo family/s of Sumatran generations up til present day.
p.s was interested by this: 5 Tigers : Sumatran Tiger and how apparently only 37 wild caught Sumatrans are responsible for the present zoo individuals. Does that mean inevitably more wild Sumatrans will have to be introduced in zoos to diversify the gene pools??