If you go along to Edinburgh Zoo there will be a new animal for you to meet over the next day or two. (And our best tips for going to Edinburgh Zoo are to go by bus and to consider buying a membership as it makes return trips cheaper.)
A new critically endangered tiger has arrived this week. Jambi, a beautiful adult male Sumatran tiger, has arrived to partner the Zoo’s female Baginda in the hope that they will eventually have cubs to increase the numbers of this extremely rare species.
Jambi arrived from the Berlin Tier Park earlier this week and is already settling into his new home at RZSS Edinburgh Zoo.
The Sumatran tiger is a subspecies of tiger found only on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and it is estimated that fewer than 400 of these majestic tigers are left in the wild. Whilst these tigers are protected by law in Indonesia, increased deforestation and poaching has led to their significant decline and without help the Sumatran tiger now faces the threat of extinction. There is a large market for the use of tiger parts in traditional Asian medicine and increased agricultural growth has led to the fragmentation of the tiger’s habitat, with most of the remaining Sumatran tigers in Indonesia now living in five National Parks and two game reserves.
The Sumatran tiger is the smallest of all the tiger subspecies and is distinguished by heavy black stripes on their orange coats. Their habitat ranges from lowland forest to mountain forest and includes evergreen, swamp and tropical rain forests.
Alison Maclean, Carnivore Team Leader at RZSS Edinburgh Zoo, said: “Jambi is a beautiful tiger. He is a fairly calm and content big cat, but for the time being he is living next door to our female Baginda. In the future they will be introduced properly, but at the moment they are just getting used to the sight and smell of each other.
“We would be delighted to see the pair produce cubs eventually. As Sumatran tigers are a Critically Endangered species it is vital we do all we can to develop the reserve population of these cats. 97% of wild tigers have already died out in just over a century, so with the help of well-coordinated breeding programmes across the world – such as the European Breeding Programme of which we are a part – it is our hope that we will be able to increase the numbers of this noble species and protect them from a similar fate.”
Jambi, aged 12, was born at Dudley Zoo in the West Midlands and then moved to Berlin when he was a year old. He will be going on show to the public in the next few days.
The resident male Sumatran tiger Tibor has left to go to Barcelona Zoo.
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Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
