[ad_1]
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) – The Idaho Falls Zoo has announced that there is a new girl in town: an Amur tiger named Eloise.
In April, Basha, a longtime zoo resident, died of health complications related to old age. Since then, the zoo’s animal care specialists have worked with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Amur Tiger Species Survival Plan (SSP) to identify the best option not just for the zoo. but, above all, for the tiger that would be moved to Idaho Falls.
“It’s actually quite a complex scientific process,” said zoo director David Pennock, “but one that has a big impact on sustaining the genetic diversity of captive wildlife for future generations.”
An SSP is a breeding program managed in cooperation between AZA accredited facilities that manage captive threatened or endangered species. There are over 500 different SSPs in AZA and each is managed by a group of wildlife professionals who make recommendations based on the genetic lineage of the wildlife. As captive populations tend to be smaller, the aim is to improve genetic diversity as much as possible, thus ensuring sustainability over time. And, according to an article published in AZA’s Connect magazine from August 2021, PSS is working.
While working with the Amur Tiger SSP, the best match found for the Idaho Falls Zoo was a 4.5-year-old female named Eloise living at the Oregon Zoo with her sister. Eloise was born at the Milwaukee County Zoo in September 2016. The sisters have now reached the age when they would seek to breed in the wild. However, the success of SSPs rests on maintaining the key to genetic diversity and population management, which means that not all animals in AZA accredited zoos will reproduce. Some facilities have exhibits, like the tiger habitat at the Idaho Falls Zoo, which serve as housing for animals that, to ensure that genetic diversity is maintained, are not currently participating in the breeding component of an SSP. As such, Eloise will be the only tiger in the exhibit, as the Idaho Falls Zoo is not a tiger breeding facility.
“Tigers are extremely solitary and for us social humans this can be difficult to understand. We see a tiger alone and assume it must be alone because we would be alone on our own, ”said General Curator Katie Barry.
Barry said it’s important not to project human behaviors onto a non-human species based on our experiences or preferences, and it’s about doing what’s best to care for. of an animal based on the natural history of that species. For this reason, Eloise is ready to leave life with her sister.
Eloise arrived at the zoo on August 18; However, she will not be on public display until she demonstrates that she feels comfortable in her new surroundings.
“Think about when you bring a new cat into your house,” Barry said. “Often they hide for a few days until they feel safe in their new surroundings. Big cats do it too.
To give Eloise time to adjust, the area leading to the tiger show is closed.
[ad_2]
Source link