Felids in Australasian Zoos – News, History and Discussion

Sumatran Tigers

Dumai the Sumatran tiger has died at Orana Wildlife Park, aged 16:

South Island's last tiger dies at Christchurch wildlife park at age 16

A number of tigers from this line have died around this age: Calang (1990-2016); Tenang (2000-2015); Berani (2000-2015); Setia (2000-2016); Sendiri (2003-2019).

Oldest Sumatran Tigers in Australasia (2020):

1. Assiqua (F) at Adelaide Zoo born 18/05/1999
2. Mencari (F) at Hamilton Zoo born 10/01/2000
3. Binjai (F) at Melbourne Zoo born 30/08/2002
4. Dumai (M) at Perth Zoo born 04/04/2003
5. Jumilah (F) at Taronga Zoo born 22/10/2003

As with many species, longevity clearly favours the females:

Longevity Record Holders:

1. Kemiri (1994) died in 2017 aged 22 years
2. Malu (1996) died in 2019 aged 22 years
3. Selatan (1990) died in 2012 aged 21 years
4. Cantic (1992) died in 2013 aged 21 years
5. Assiqua (1999) alive aged 20 years

No male Sumatran tiger in the region has lived longer than 19 years.

 

Adelaide Zoo’s Tiger Boy was believed to be 24 when he died in 2008. I don’t recall anything about his background.

 

Tiger Boy was born 29/04/1990 at Krefeld Zoo, so he was 18 when he died in May 2008. It’s a great shame him and Kemiri never bred.

I hope they have success with Kembali and Rahni, or they will be Adelaide Zoo’s third non successful breeding pair.

 

Thanks for the info! I’m confused as to why the zoo put forth an estimated age if his actual age was known. He certainly looked a very old cat in his later years; he did not age nearly so well as Kemiri or Tuan.

 

I could be wrong but I feel there appears to be far fewer Tigers in Aussie collections than say about ten years ago?

 

You’re right, and the statistics support this:

Between 2006 and 2012, there were 25 Sumatran tiger cubs born that survived to 12 months of age (as well as the import of three cubs from Indonesia); between 2013 and 2019, there were only 11 cubs born that survived to 12 months of age (and no imports).

Since the end of the 2006-2012 baby boom (when the Australasian Sumatran tiger population was at it’s highest), there have been three exports and at least 15 deaths.

 

That appears to be quite a big drop in numbers I hope some breedings can take place to bring the numbers up to a better level also considering Sumatran Tigers are really endangered as well

 

The zoo to watch will be Auckland Zoo, who are planning to import a young, unrelated breeding pair. I don’t hold much hope for the other breeding pairs in the region. Adelaide’s tigress is almost thirteen and never bred with her previous mate; the pair at Canberra haven’t bred in the years they’ve been together; and Wellington are undertaking the world’s slowest introduction between their pair. Some imports from outside the region would be fantastic. Maybe Australia Zoo can work their magic re. Indonesia imports again!

 

I am quite surprised that the ZAA have let this happen since Sumatran Tigers were a highlighted species for the region one would believe there would be a minimum number to be held in the regions zoos?, There would have to be a TAG team meeting once and a while to see all is going to plan and which direction they are going in or has the ball been dropped here?

 

In my opinion, the biggest mistake was the large number of tigers bred between 2006 and 2012. Of these, many were surplus to the breeding programme and have never been paired with mates. The result now is an aging population. The programme seems to have been run better in recent years, with fewer cubs born; and many of the cubs going straight into breeding situations - Clarence (2013) at Taronga and Kembali (2014) at Adelaide for example. Reggie (2016) is a genetically valuable tiger, and will likely be paired soon.

 

One could believe perhaps a few unrelated imports could of helped out with the regions breeding program?

 

Agreed! Our last imports were the Indonesian triplets in 2008.

There also could have been better management within the region. All but one of the litters (which contained a single male cub) that were born to the Indonesian imports were from pairings with direct descendants of the Nico-Meta line (the founders of the Australasian population). Tigers like Oz were also under-utilised. He should have been sent instead of his son (Kembali) to Adelaide Zoo as Oz is a founder; Kembali is a fifth generation member of the Nico-Meta line.

The five daughters of Raja and Soraya (distant relations of Nico-Meta) would have been better off paired with tigers like Hari and Oz also to sustain the genetic diversity of the region.

 

I do agree again it reflects back better management of species in our region which I have mentioned before why are our regions zoos doing such a poor job of it?

 

This is actually makes sense when you think that the aim is to stretch-out the the diversity of the population as much as possible.

 

Sumatran Tigers - Female, Assiqua died at Adelaide in late February. She was 20 years old

 

African Lion news:

A male lion cub named Phoenix was born 23/12/2019 at the Mogo Zoo to Baako and Chitwah.

Four lion cubs were born at Monarto Zoo to Husani on 17/02/2020.

Snow Leopard News:

Three Snow Leopard cubs were born 26/01/2020 to Kang Ju and Miska at the Melbourne Zoo.

 

Perth Zoo's eldest lioness, Shinyanga has died aged 20 years. I visited her in 2016, shortly before Mandela died and got to hear her roaring and patrolling the exhibit with him which was pretty cool. She had a good life at Perth Zoo, after being rejected by her previous pride.

Lions born at Mogo Zoo

Shinyanga was born at Mogo Zoo in 1999, as every second lion in the region once seemed to be. I did some research and found the following lions born at Mogo (all now deceased):

07/03/1998:

0.1 Priscilla (sent to Orana Wildlife Park)

12/02/1999:

0.1 Sheeka (sent to Auckland Zoo)

18/08/1999:

1.0 Jambo (sent to Taronga Zoo; Hunter Valley Zoo)
0.1 Njeri (sent to Taronga Zoo; Taronga Western Plains Zoo)
0.1 Shinyanga (sent to Taronga Zoo; Taronga Western Plains Zoo; Perth Zoo)

02/11/1999:

1.0 Levi (sent to Monarto Zoo)
1.0 Leroy (sent to Monarto Zoo)

If anyone can add to any of these litters; or knows of any other lions born at Mogo during this time, that would be great. There was at least one other lioness (Jamila) born 1999, who was likely part of one of the above litters.

 

Update on the Lion Pride at Paradise Valley Springs

Since Max passed away last year, there has been a shake up of the hierarchy. Luca (2004) is now the alpha female; after her daughter, Hanna (2007) dropped in ranking. Luca has a strong bond with one of her other daughters, Aleekah (2012), who is also high ranking.

Current pride:

0.1 Luca (2004)
0.1 Hanna (2007) Luca
1.0 Benji (2011) Hanna
0.1 Bella (2011) Hanna
0.1 Aleekah (2012) Luca
0.1 Ayla (2012) Luca
1.0 Xander (2013) Hanna

I contacted Paradise Valley last month, who confirmed they have no plans to breed in the immediate future (i.e. the next year). Given that they haven’t bred in seven years (their largest gap with no breeding to date); and that the pride now numbers just seven lions, I’m wondering if the long term plan is to phase them out. The youngest lions (aged seven to nine years old) should be around for at least another decade though.

Given the high level of inbreeding, they really should look at new imports if they do plan to continue breeding. The obvious move would be to send the two males to a wildlife park and import a new male/s while three of the five lionesses are still of reproductive age.

 

Since they're so inbred, wouldn't it be better to being in new lions altogether (a new pride)?

 

That is one option. Many zoos have done this (Auckland, Wellington and Orana for example), but in the case of Paradise Valley, they don’t have the space to manage two prides of lions. Unrelated lions of the same sex wouldn’t be able to be integrated; and even the post reproductive lionesses might not accept a new male (as we saw at Monarto Zoo recently).

The best option would therefore be to wait until this pride dies out (in around a decade) and the review options for importing more. The exhibit is very dated and they may even rethink their decision to hold lions.