By Staff Reports
(WAIKĪKĪ) –The Honolulu Zoo is pleased to announce the arrival of a second Sumatran tiger in the Year of the Tiger. Anala, a female tiger, was transported to the Honolulu Zoo on Thursday evening. She is almost 5 years old. Anala was born on August 17, 2017 and raised in Central Florida.
Anala weighs approximately 207 pounds. Her father, Malosi, was born at the Honolulu Zoo in 2008 to parents Chrissie and Berani. Malosi was transferred on a breeding loan to Washington in 2012 and then to Central Florida in 2014. While there, he sired two cubs, Anala and her brother, Jeda in 2017. Anala will be housed at the Honolulu Zoo with her new mate, Seattle, in the exhibit next to the zoo’s resident female tiger, Chrissie, her biological grandmother.
“With the assistance of the Honolulu Police Department’s solo bike escort team once again, we are happy to announce our new Sumatran tiger arrived safely at the Honolulu Zoo,” said Honolulu Zoo Director Linda Santos. “We are very fortunate that the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Species Survival Plan (SSP) identified Anala as a genetically suitable match for Seattle, our male tiger, and are very excited about this being a special homecoming event. We look forward to Anala meeting her grandmother, and are crossing our fingers that Anala and Seattle will successfully breed and produce great-grandchildren for Chrissie.”
The Sumatran tiger is one of the smallest species of tigers in the world and is the only surviving tiger population in the Sunda Islands, where the Bali and Javan tigers have gone extinct. They are noted for their heavy black stripes on their orange coat and are generally shy and tend to avoid people in the wild. Poaching is one of their main threats to survival, and the expansion of oil palm and acacia plantations have taken over their much of their natural habitat. The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List has the Sumatran tiger listed as critically endangered, with no more than 400 individuals believed to be remaining in its total population.
The Honolulu Zoo’s Aloha ‘Aina Conservation Fund has provided longtime support for conservation efforts of Sumatran tigers in the wild through the AZA SSP’s Tiger Conservation Campaign.