Zoos, Circuses, Safaris: A Gallery of Captivity

[Amnon242]

(07-20-2017, 05:00 AM)peter Wrote:

(07-19-2017, 10:20 PM)Amnon242 Wrote: East african lions. Father, mother, son

BTW I talked with the owner of this private zoo (20+ years of experience with around 50 lions and 20 tigers). He is huge lion lover and he dislikes tigers (he is going to cancel his amur tiger program...he is also going to keep his white tigers beacuse they are attractive and he needs visitors). He says that according to his opinion (captive) amur tigers are the biggest, while bengal and south african lions are about the same size (he was in India and especially in Africa many times). I asked him who would win in a fight and he said, that majority of people in the know prefer one one them but according to him it depends strictly on the individual. His felids are in good condition and have long life (one lion was 24 yo when he died) and this zoo is extremely successfull in breeding. Its beacuse quiet environment (felids have a lot of privacy) and proper food (usually veal). In many zoos felids have inapropriate diet (chicken, rabbits...) and therefore have tendencies to obesity.

Same answer as Tony Hughes on encounters between captive lions and tigers; there's no such thing as species-related ability in a fight. It depends on the individual.

As to his remark on size.

We have to remember that there is a pronounced difference between captive and wild tigers. Captive Amur tigers often are larger and bigger than their wild relatives. In Indian tigers, it's the other way round. Captive lions often are a bit bigger than their wild relatives. 

The only regions where wild adult males average 200 kg. (442 pounds) and over are India and Nepal (tigers). Southern and southwestern Africa could be second (lions), but Amur tigers are quite close.

In tigers, exceptional individuals are only seen in India and Nepal. Exceptional males lions, on the other hand, have been seen in most regions. WaveRiders measured a skull of a 600-pound wild lion shot in Kenya.  

Did he tell you why he dislikes tigers? 

Nice pictures, as always.

Thank You Peter,

he said that "tiger is a villain" According to him tigers are intelligent but in a "bad" way - they are sly. And agressive. BTW one of his tigers - 6yo 270+ kg (estimated) amur killed a man in one public zoo...(he somehow managed to open his enclosure and killed his breeder). When we talked about tigers I told him how one tiger killed a lion in a circus: group of tigers and lions - some females, 1 male tiger, 1 male lion. The felids had to go from one enclosure to another via some narrow corridor. First the male lion, then lionesses, the tigresses and male tiger last. One day the tiger waited till the lion entered the corridor, then he overtook the lionesses, pressed himself beside the lion and immediately killed him. Then he walked away as if nothing happened. The breeder told me that this is exactly the tigers style... on the other hand the chief big cat breeder from zoo Prague said that he likes tigers most, because they are the strongest personalities....so this is probably a matter of opinion/personal preferencies...

BTW when I told him that 270 kg means very huge tiger he replied that its indeed a lot...but nothing extraordinary because "some amurs are real giants". We talk about that white tiger who was weighted 250 kg at the age of 3 and he said he estimated him to be 200 kg (before the weighing) and that according to him bengals are usually around 200 kg...and that kruger lions are simillar (he is not like us - we are able to spend years arguing whether average weight of bengal tigers is 208 kg or 215 kg...or whether average weight of kuger lions is 189 kg or 193 kg).

He also said that his white tigers (male and female) had east african neighbors and that the tigers were very self confident because they had substantial weight advantage (especially the male). But he purchased huge white krugers in their prime and placed them instead of those east africans. The ego of immature tigers (they were around 3 that time, now they are 4,5) went down...for about 1 month they were just lying down and quietly observing the lions, they were really nervous. Finally they somehow managed to build a balanced relationship with the lions.

Tigress (sorry for idiotic photo). Reply

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