Sumatran Tigers in Europe

Aalborg - female Kim has been pts at the age of 16. Leaving her mate, Batu and son Khai

 

Thanks Nisha for the news, sad to hear she was one of my favorite tigers ( she born in Rotterdam). Do you know what was wrong with her?

 

Cancer unfortunately. There's a short statement on Aalborg's Facebook page

 

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 some hope it helps

 

No thankyou it helps alot it 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

 

Male, Kepala (B2005 at Dudley Sarah X Rokan) has moved all the way to Jerusalem Biblical Zoo from Dublin. This move follows the death of JBZ's previous male, Avigdor (B2005 at Wuppertal) during 2015 due to Kidney failure.

Dublin no longer hold Sumatran Tigers at present

מאירלנד באהבה: טיגריס נדיר הגיע לירושלים

 

Hey seeing as there is this statement I've seen at least twice 'here and there' online that Sumatran Tigers in captivity now all descend from 37 wild caught individuals I was wondering if anyone has some information from studbooks on as many of these wild caught Tigers and where they went as possible?

I have already kindly been given info thanks to Karoo Cheetah a month ago on five wild caught Sumatran Tigers (male Deli, female Slimme and three unamed females) that went to Rotterdam Zoo in 1948 and two (female Lissy and male Caesar) that went to a Tierpark Berlin in 1956. As this is 7 wild caught Sumatran Tigers over 60 years ago now I was wondering for those who view the studbooks etc what other individuals and dates are known about for other wild caught Sum-Tigers who make up the ancestors of the current captive individuals?

 

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

 

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

 

Thank you for that information, it's really interesting to know Shiva and Selatan had a litter in May 2001 as I heard they were still trying to breed from the pair in 2002 when Shiva died. Selatan had a few reproductive problems in her early years with irregular cycles etc. which no doubt worserned with age. It's sad her last litter did not survive as this would obviously have been her last chance to raise a another litter.

Kemiri (F94) is indeed at Adelaide Zoo. She is currently the second oldest Sumatran tiger in the world (I'm not sure who the oldest is?) but is still in excellent health.

It's interesting to see how some of Meta's cubs, and Selatan's cubs were of unknown gender. It makes me wonder if they were eaten by the mother? I know traditionally gender in Sumatran tiger cubs is not confirmed until they're 12 weeks of age but Kemiri's brother died before the age of three weeks (possibly at birth), yet they were able to confirm his gender, so I see no reason they wouldn't have been able to in the other cubs of unknown gender, except for the absence of the cub (eaten by the mother).

Just wondering, in your previous post, was there a name listed for the female cubs in Meta's 1988 litter? I see she survived to 4 months but was unnamed, yet Lunka (a previous cub) died at 1 month but was named.

 

Male, Harau (B23/3/2015 Nila X Taru) left Le Pal today for Fuengirola, Spain. This move likely means the death (or departure) of male Rokan (B2000 at Dudley, Sarah X Filon) who was at Fuengirola until recently

 

Thnx for the update.
It's very interesting to see this. Male Batu was first paired with Sali (AttjakxKim) in Rheine, after that he was paired with Kim in Aalborg and now he has been paired again with partly the same bloodline: Bethani, daughter of Gasha (FalcoxSurami) Surami is a daughter of Kim.

Do you know the names of Bethani's brothers?

And does anybody know the name of the cub born in september 2013 in Lisbon?

 

Forgot to mention: Surami has been sterilized at Burgers Zoo, so no more cubs for her.

 

Have Burgers Zoo still got the last two cubs they produced as well ?

Male, Vanni (B2010Rotterdam Hermes X Alia) moved from Terra Natura Benidorm to Frankfurt last week. Giving Frankfurt a (none breeding) pair again

 

yes, so they have 5 tigers now in total in 2 groups. (Mum Jurami withthe cubs)

 

Sumatran Tigers were already imported to Zoological Gardens in Europe in the1 9th century. First record at Franfurt was a female in 1894, first breeding there was in 1926. Berlin has kept them since the end of the 9th /or beginning of the 20th century.

 

Male, Bukit (B23/3/2015 Nila X Taru) left Le Pal for Champrepus at the end of January