I was just wondering how many of the five remaining tiger subspecies do we have in UK zoos? I know we have Sumatran at London Zoo (and many other zoos) and Amur at Whipsnade Zoo (and many other Zoos) but I was wondering about the rest.
To the best of my knowledge, the Amur and Sumatran tigers are the only pure subspecies in the UK at this moment in time- all the others are 'zoo' Bengals- a Bengal hybridised with another subspecies. Although the RSCC and (possibly) Hamerton will also be bringing in Malayan tigers in the not-too-distant future, from what I gather.
As far as I am aware there are currently no other sub-species in the UK, though on the RSCC thread it states they are rumoured to be getting Malayan in near future. Sorry, this was posted a minute after the one above!
For general record, the last certain and undisputed pure Bengal tiger died at Bristol Zoo in 1985. Malayan, Indochinese and Javan tigers have all been held at London Zoo in the distant past; the former of these species has also been held at Edinburgh, although I believe there might have been isolated misidentified individuals at other collections in the past, as some impure Sumatran tigers in the UK (those at WMZ spring to mind) have been tested to have relatively recent Malatan ancestry.
Many, many thanks for your replies. Hopefully the hybridised tigers aren't being breed so over time more places will be available for pure tigers.
This is why I get so cross about white Tigers (and now Lions) - or to be precise, the dorks who breed them. These animals are taking up space that cats of genuine conservation importance require.
H'mm. No idea, but I don't see them as being released into anywhere in SE Africa, do you? They were a very rare mutation that got into captivity and are being bred to make money. Those who like mutants can get white peafowl or budgies as far as I'm concerned; they are cheaper to keep and don't get in the way of breeding programmes!
If they are "natural" mutants from the same subspecies, they have - imo - their "value" for pure-line-breeding in captivity AS LONG as the goal isn't "White Lions only". You wont stop breeding with a - say - pure Javan or Ceylon Leopard only because it is black (melanistic), would you?
This value is severely compromised due to the level of inbreeding depression within the population, as noted by zoogiraffe.
I agree with this entirely, I don't agree with breeding generic black leopards but the occasional naturally occuring mutation is fine. I'm pretty sure that no-one would argue with mating a king cheetah either! And as mentioned by zg, white lions are pure but extremely inbred. I would think that maybe introducing some "tawny" blood into the gene pool may be in the subspecies best interest! (And I'm sure they would still throw out the occasional mutant to please Joe Public! )
Are you certain these were Indochinese? Did they collect them from a different location from where all the other "Indochinese" Tigers were collected? ~Thylo
Haven't the foggiest; this was over a century ago I believe. The fact that it is known they also held Malayan suggests to me that someone has already worked out that particular holding was indeed Indochinese.
My guess is that someone looked at where the relevant Tigers came from. Tigers from Burma would have been deemed to be P.t.corbetti; those from Malaya P.t.jacksoni.
Yup, they are pure bred however inbred from four individuals. The current collections which hold them are WHF/Paradise and West Mid's SP. Amur and Sumatran are currently the only pure-bred tigers in the UK, although as mentioned RSCC are due to receive Malayan tigers in the future.
For many years the late Jack Corney, owner of the Isle of Wight Zoo (Sandown) claimed some of his tigers were partly Chinese. Though they did look unusual or different visually to his many other Tigers at that time I did have some doubts over his claims.
Being as these individuals were later selectively bred together to produce a "bred-back" individual later claimed by first Sandown and then later Wildlife Heritage Foundation to have been a pure Bengal Tiger, it wouldn't have been the last time they were passed off as something more prestigious than they actually were
When I spoke to Jack Corney about his tigers, he was adamant that a couple of his tigers were part Chinese, and they did look different to me - though I don`t know the history of those tigers he was referring to, he did not mention Bengals on this occasion. (Though this thread is about Bengals and pure stock anyway, I am not sure why I mentioned it, only out of general interest).
