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NEW TIGER FOR THE NEW YEAR FRANÇOIS’ LANGUR
WILDLIFE WONDERS
CLOUDED LEOPARD
by Tim L.Tetzlaff Life in Naples | December 2016

Naples Zoo Director of Conservation

I regularly take time here to write about how the support of our visitors, members, and
donors enables Naples Zoo to care for wildlife around the world. At the same time,
many of our on-site conservation programs are blended with those efforts to provide
a hedge against extinction by breeding species outside the wild. A number of new arrivals
as well as those coming in the next few months illustrate that work by our animal care
staff in cooperation with other like-minded conservationists.

TIGERS ON THE MOVE

Naples Zoo is part of an international effort to insure Malayan tigers will be alive to
see the 22nd century. The challenge is daunting and the risk is greater than ever.The 20th
century witnessed the loss of the Balinese, Javan, and Caspian tiger and the South China
tiger is almost certainly extinct in the wild. During that same time, tiger populations
plummeted from about 100,000 cats to a mere 4,000 tigers believed to survive in the
wilds across all of Asia today.

Of those, only 250 to 340 are the critically endangered Malayan tigers. Because
their numbers continue to decline in the wild from poaching, habitat loss, and prey
depletion, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) manages a Species Survival
Plan® (SSP) to protect these cats from extinction. Using carefully tracked lineages, the
SSP coordinator makes breeding recommendations with a goal of maintaining healthy
genetic integrity outside the wild for the next 100 years. Recently, Naples Zoo’s two
brothers were matched with females to fulfill that mission and were moved to two other
AZA-accredited zoos.

Taking their place is another set of Malayan tiger brothers. Just over two-years old,
these subadult cats can now be seen stalking through the bamboo or splashing in the
pool in the Tiger Forest exhibit. Already over 200 pounds, they are growing up fast and
will one day also play a role in saving their species.

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