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Colchester Zoo Amur tiger

Discussion in 'United Kingdom' started by BearCat, 3 Apr 2009.

  1. BearCat

    BearCat Well-Known Member

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    Does anybody know what collection Anouska the female Amur tiger came from?
     
  2. Mike11

    Mike11 Well-Known Member

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    Anoushka was born at Linton Zoo in Cambridgeshire in April 2006. Born to Deja and Mirko, she has a twin brother Makari who now resides at the Wildlife Heritage Foundation in Kent.
    Hope this was useful to you
    Regards
     
  3. BearCat

    BearCat Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for the info.

    On one of the series of zoo days, when it was at Colchester, they said that Anouska was one of the Amur tigers that had another subspecies genes in. If this is correct than will Linton stop breeding from their current tigers? Because I think Colchester aren't breeding them at the moment.
     
  4. Mike11

    Mike11 Well-Known Member

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    Im not sure about this but i think as the pair are rather old both being middle aged they only have 1 litter left in them.The Hybrid Gene must be very slight but overall im not sure.Many of the Linton Tigers have gone off to other zoos so it may maen having to stop several breeding pairs.
    Im not sure about the entire issue though.
    regards
     
  5. Paulkarli08

    Paulkarli08 Well-Known Member

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    It would be unfair to breed from the tigers at Linton given that two of them is a hybrid of some degree, the only pure one is the male i think? it would be unfair on other zoo's having to house the cubs and as a result sacrifice their own potential breeding programmes. It would be more fairer to send the male out for breeding so at least a pure litter can be sired by him.
     
  6. Mike11

    Mike11 Well-Known Member

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    I agree the Female is the pure Amur im pretty sure but sadly she suffers from Atheritus.The problem occured when Mirko had a blood test which said he was pure Amur but his brother had the test which said he wasnt so its all rather confusing.They may have to go through 'Phase out' like the Howletts tigers.
     
  7. Jacobea

    Jacobea Well-Known Member

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    *If* I remember correctly; in the last Zoo Days series at Colchester, they discovered that Anoushka had some Sumatran genes in her :( It's a shame as she and Ivan apparently get on very well (though I haven't been to the zoo in...ten years :eek: ) which potentially could have meant regular litters, I guess.
     
  8. Mike11

    Mike11 Well-Known Member

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    Its a real shame but Linton didnt find out till recently as the blood test must of happened in Germany where Mirko came from.
    Regards
     
  9. Otorongo

    Otorongo Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Hey,
    does anybody know if they wanna still breed with Anoushka and Ivan? Most of the zoos had sterilized/caponized their hybrid tigers.

    here the Gene-transfer, hope you will understand that.
    Anoushka
    parents: Mirko & Deja (Linton)
    M's parents: Sascha & Taiga (Hamburg)
    S's parents: Roman & Svetlaja (Munich)
    Roman is mixed by Amur & Sumatra. Later on I will control my information about it, if his parents where an Amur and a Sumatran or if one parent was mixed, I'm not really sure without looking into my folders. But I think, his parents where one of each subspecies.
     
  10. karenZOO

    karenZOO Well-Known Member

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    Annouska was sterilised after she lost her first litter and the problems with her being hybrid was discovered.

    Igor is the name of the male, not sure what will happen with him as he is still part of the breeding programme (as far as I am aware)
     
    Last edited: 25 Oct 2009
  11. Jacobea

    Jacobea Well-Known Member

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    Personally, although Igor is a pure bred, I don't think they should be split up. They seemed to genuinely pine for each on Zoo Days when they were seperated for Anoushka's pregnancy and if one of them were to be sent elsewhere, it could be pretty damaging for both tigers IMO :(
     
  12. Mike11

    Mike11 Well-Known Member

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    I also agree with you Jacobea, They do get on really well and if they wont let them breed then they should keep them together.Amur Tiger's are breeding quite well in the Uk at the moment so they are'nt needed urgently.
    Also just need to correct info i gave Anoushka was born to Mirko (m) and Deja (f) and born in 2006 - She has two brothers Czar and Uri. Makari is not her twin but her younger brother Makari's twin is Katinka and is still at Linton with Deja and Mirko.
    Linton's first Amur Cub 'Ana' went to Colchester but sadly she had a fit in her pool and drowned shortly After thast Anoushka,Czar and Uri arrived at Colchester - After that Uri and Czar went to other European Zoos and Igor arrived.
    Does anyone know if Uri and Czar have bred yet and what is going to happen to them?
    Thanks
     
  13. ZooLeopard

    ZooLeopard Well-Known Member

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    Anouska came from linton zoo on the 8th July 2005 with her brothers Czar and Uri. Czar and Uri moved to another collection when Igor born in Vienna Zoo arrived 25th November 2006. Igor is definatley a pure amur tiger but as seen on Zoo days Anoushka sadly is a hybrid. For now these two tigers will stay together.
     
  14. Mike11

    Mike11 Well-Known Member

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    Thanks Zoo Leopard for that and reinstating what we have all said :) - Great they are staying together
    I have heard that when hamburg Zoo did the testing they found Mirko's brother a hybrid but Mirko a pure - so something definately went wrong there.But as Linton then get Deja and started breeding sounds like a huge lack of communication or Hamburg not thinking??
     
  15. Otorongo

    Otorongo Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    thanks for the information.
    I hope they will stay together. They seem to be like Sascha and Taiga at Hamburg, it's "love".

    Litter 2004: Anoushka's brother Czar/Cahn is living in Helsinki and brother Uri is living in Hunnebostrand.
    Litter 2006: And there are the younger siblings Makari at WHF and sister Katinka still in Linton.

    No one of them has ever bred. As far as I know they all shall stay at their zoos. And the WHF seems to try to breed with Makari and his mate Ronja. They said they wanna mix them when Makari is 4 years old, that would be next spring.
    Nordens Ark (Hunnebostrand) was built a new facility for the tigers with a breeding enclosure.

    I never heard about the fact that there are difference between the hybrid status of Mischa and Mirko. Every tiger of Roman's offsprings is a hybrid and no offspring will breed for EEP in future. These tigers (and the offsprings of Linda, probably Roman's sister) will be canceled in the next studbook.
    And the genetic test would never make by Hamburg, all test run over the EEP in Leipzig. They missed to test them in former times because there was a very bis accordance in Roman's and Linda's vita, and Linda was marked as a hybrid a long time ago. Hamburg didn't know the problem of the hybrids till Leipzig told them, and in that time Sacha and Taiga didn't bred anymore and all kids were in other zoos and some had still kids of their own.
    There was another problem with Taiga, she seems to bequeath a gene for liver problems. That was the reason why they didn't breed anymore after the last litter in 2002.
     
  16. Mike11

    Mike11 Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for that Otorongo, Very interesting and sums up alot of stuff.
    Do you know where Mischa is now?
    Also Deja's Arthritus is getting very bad in her back legs - This they say is quite common in Tigers born in Russian Zoo's because they are being bred so much in small conditions.However as one of Deja's parents was wild-caught this was only a problem through one side.
    Sadly she was very genetically important but her genes have been 'wasted' if you like through the breeding with Mirko.
     
  17. Otorongo

    Otorongo Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Mischa is living in Leipzig, Germany.
    But they search a new zoo for him.
     
  18. Naimsindi

    Naimsindi Active Member

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    Makari was castrated in July of this year. WHF provides homes for some "retired" surplus individuals but would not breed hybrids.
     
  19. Mike11

    Mike11 Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for that.
    When I visited in October last year they planned to introduce and hopefully breed from him and Ronja but obviously the plans have been stopped.
    Naimsindi how is Indy doing? I adopted her for the last 2 years, but unfortunately I have stopped adopting her.Is she still going strong?
    Thanks
     
  20. Naimsindi

    Naimsindi Active Member

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    Indy is fine, going great and skipping about like a cub as usual. She enjoyed living with Puna and the cubs until they got a bit too big and boisterous and now just lives with Puna again until the boys move on.

    I'm suprised that you were told last October that Makari and Ronja would be bred as plans were always to castrate him, after his hybrid status was discovered.