The Point Defiance Zoo is welcoming a visitor tomorrow for a special post-Valentine's Day tryst with Jaya – a Sumatran tiger named Malosi.
“We’re very excited about Malosi’s arrival and the pair’s potential to produce cubs,” said general curator Karen Goodrowe Beck. “The Sumatran tiger is critically endangered and we are working hard to protect and boost the population of this extraordinary species.”
Malosi comes from a zoo in Honolulu and is expected to breed with the Tacoma zoo’s resident female tiger, Jaya. Three-year-old Malosi has not yet fathered a litter of cubs.
Video of the zoo's tigers playing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jva5n-JRrdM
The Point Defiance Zoo’s female tiger gave birth to two cubs in 2010. One of the cubs died last July after an intestinal problem.
There are about 200 Sumatran tigers in zoos around the world, including 70 in the United States. Point Defiance Zoo has three of the tigers: Jaya, her year-and-half old cub Bima and his father Bali. This tiger sub-species is native to the Indonesian island of Sumatra. But poaching and habitat loss have caused the wild tiger population to dwindle to fewer than 300.
Meanwhile at the Seattle Aquarium:
Sixteen arms, six hearts and two giant Pacific octopuses met today in a Valentine’s Day special and … they successfully mated, reports Seattle Aquarium spokesperson Tim Kuniholm.
Rocky, a big male giant Pacific octopus, and Mayhem entwined in the annual event when the Plexiglas barrier between their two sides was removed. The mating is a prelim for Octopus Week.
Video: All the moves ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08IoZ5SQefo
