A few days before Christmas Eve, a new arrival moved into Frankfurt Zoo. And since December 27, he can also be admired in his enclosure. We are talking about EMAS, a Sumatran tiger, who moved from the Rotterdam Zoo to the cat jungle in Frankfurt. Here EMAS shares henceforth the plant with tigress CINTA.
After some veterinary medical test the tiger could move already two weeks after its arrival on 14 December from the quarantine station into the cat jungle. Here he moved into the enclosure next to CINTA, who has been living in Frankfurt since October.
Born in 2009 at Dublin Zoo in Ireland, EMAS lived in Rotterdam from 2015. Neither he nor eight-year-old CINTA have had any offspring yet. "EMAS is a calm and sociable male tiger. We hope he can draw out the somewhat shy tigress. Tigers are solitary animals and usually only come together in the mating season, but nevertheless the proximity of a conspecific can have a positive effect. Our two tigers are already older animals. However, since they have never reproduced, their offspring would be extremely valuable genetically to the zoo population. If we find that they get along well, we will let EMAS and CINTA live together in due course. If they like each other, there is hope for offspring," said zoo director Dr. Christina Geiger.
The tiger subspecies living on Sumatra is extremely rare. Estimates of the World Conservation Union IUCN assume about 400 animals that still live in their ancestral homeland. Above all, poaching as well as large-scale deforestation and the loss of natural prey exert pressure on the remaining population. The Frankfurt Zoological Society (ZGF) has been involved in the protection of the lowland rainforests in the Bukit Tiga Puluh region of Sumatra since 2000. This biodiversity hotspot is home to many endangered species, including orangutans, elephants and tigers. With income from the voluntary conservation euro introduced in 2021, the zoo supports, among other things, the work of the ZGF on Sumatra.
