February 9, 2011
Tiger Cubs first birthday! from Zoos Victoria on Vimeo.
The four Sumatran Tiger cubs celebrated their first birthday today, with gifts made by Grade 3 students at Mentone Park Primary School.
The students made animal-themed piñatas as birthday gifts for the cubs, along with an extra piñata for their mother Binjai.
Keeper Sheila Roe added some treats to the piñatas so Rani, Hutan, Aceh, and Indra to give provide added incentive to investigate their gifts.
She took some students behind the scenes, and they helped placetthe piñatas in the Tiger Exhibit.
The students returned to Tiger Bridge to watch the cubs and Binjai enter the exhibit and observe their reactions to the piñatas, made in animal shapes.
The tigers pounced on the papier mache ‘wildlife' very rapidly and enthusiastically.
The cubs are the second litter for mother Binjai and father Ramalon, who were genetically matched by the coordinator of the international breeding program for their endangered species.
Sumatran Tigers are even more endangered than the other surviving tigers. As an island species, they have limited opportunities to retreat from humans; Balinese Tigers and Javan Tigers are already extinct.
Globally, habitat loss is the major threat to wildlife.
The current single largest cause of habitat loss for Sumatran Tigers and other South-east Asian wildlife is the relentless clearing of rainforest for the establishment of palm oil plantations.
The Zoo's tigers are effective Ambassadors for their wild cousins.
The Zoo's community conservation campaign ‘Don't Palm us Off' has attracted significant support for a change to food labelling legislation that would require manufacturers to specifically list palm oil if it is an ingredient in that food.
It is currently legal to list palm under the general heading of ‘vegetable oil', and it is an ingredient in about 40% of manufactured foods on Australian supermarket shelves.
This issue is due to be debated in Federal Parliament soon, and February 11th is the last day for community members to make a submission in support of palm oil labelling. Find out how at www.zoo.org.au/palmoil
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