Adelaide Zoo’s veterinary team has performed a general health check on seven-year-old Sumatran Tiger, Kembali.
The zoo’s dedicated team performed the check with Kembali under general anaesthetic in the Animal Health Centre.
Adelaide Zoo Veterinarian, Dr David McLelland, said the team generally do a health check on bigger animals like Kembali every three years.
“He looked really good. His teeth looked great, we did X-rays of his spine, chest and abdomen and had a veterinary diagnostic imaging specialist come in to do an abdominal ultrasound and everything looked good,” he said.
“We also took blood samples for a range of body function tests.”
As part of the check, a semen sample was taken and tested by Repromed.
“During a general health check of a male tiger, in the scope of the broader breeding population, it is really valuable information for us to know he is in good reproductive health,” Dr McLelland said.
“His sample came back as good quality and was motile.”
Kembali is now back on exhibit and keepers say he has recovered really well, enjoying a tasty meat cake.
Tigers are the largest living cats in the world, with the Sumatran Tiger being the smallest of the six tiger subspecies.
Sumatran Tigers inhabit the tropical rainforests on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia.
The pattern of tigers’ stripes is unique to each animal, just like fingerprints are to humans. The stripe pattern is found on a tiger’s skin and, if shaved, its distinctive pattern would remain.
Sumatran Tigers also have webbing between their toes, which makes them good swimmers. Tigers make many sounds, including roaring, chuffing, growling and mewing.
Over 100 years ago, it is estimated that there were 100,000 wild tigers – today the number is thought to be as few as 3,200 individuals.
The Sumatran Tiger is the last surviving subspecies of tiger in Indonesia.
It is estimated that there is around 300 to 500 wild Sumatran Tigers remaining with a rapidly decreasing trend due to habitat destruction and poaching for the illegal wildlife trade.
One of the main factors behind Sumatran Tigers’ habitat destruction is for the unsustainable production of palm oil, an ingredient found in around half of all supermarket products.
Zoos SA works alongside sixteen other zoo-based conservation and wildlife organisations across Australia and New Zealand to drive the global transition to Certified Sustainable Palm Oil.
We support the use of Certified Sustainable Palm Oil, where oil is produced in a way that aims to protect the last remaining habitat for wildlife and preserve the livelihoods of producers.
Kembali was born at Hamilton Zoo in New Zealand in 2014 and has called Adelaide Zoo home since mid-2018.
From today, visitors aged 16 and older who choose to come to Adelaide Zoo or Monarto Safari Park will be required to show evidence that they have been fully vaccinated (or are exempt from vaccination by order of the Chief Public Health Officer). For more information please visit, www.zoossa.com.au/covid-19/.
The total number of visitors at both Adelaide Zoo and Monarto Safari Park are still limited, so we advise all visitors, including members, to book online at adelaidezoo.com.au/tickets and monartosafari.com.au/tickets.
