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Zoos, Circuses, Safaris: A Gallery of Captivity
Zoos, Circuses, Safaris: A Gallery of Captivity
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Zoos, Circuses, Safaris: A Gallery of Captivity
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Bengal tigers have been captive in zoos since 1880. The first zoo in India to house tigers was the Alipore Zoo in Calcutta
The International Tiger Studbook (1997) says the total captive population of pure- bred (there has been a lot of crossing of pure Bengals with tigers of unknown descent) Bengal tigers is 333. Of those, 289 have the orange color typical of tigers and the remaining 44 are white. All of the pure strain captive Bengal tigers are housed in zoos in India except for 1 pure strain female Bengal tiger that is housed in the United States. (Sources) However, thanks to the beautiful blue eyed Mohan, the greatest-grandfather of all tigers bearing white genes, everywhere in the world, & their normal coloured relatives bear bengal tiger genes atleast to some extent. So, there has been no posts on bengal tigers in captivity at Indian zoos & safari parks. While pictures are harder to come by, videos are not... I've collected footages of the (male) tigers from India's top 20 zoos & sharing them in two consecutive posts. Most of them appear to be properly nourished during their growth years, to have attained full size & well-built muscles. As per directives of Central Zoo Authority of India, the tigers are fed 10kilograms of meat daily for 6days a week & made to starve one day (usually Thursdays). However, unlike their Western (& wild) counterparts, these animals are kept very lean & don't have an ounce of fat on them, despite their constitution. Chhattvir Zoo, Chandigarh. Bannerghatta Safari Park, Bangalore, Karnataka. Nandankanan Safari Park, Bhuvaneswar, Odisha. Sakkarbaug Rescue Centre, Junagadh, Gujarat. Jaipur Zoological Garden, Jaipur, Rajasthan. Nawab Wjid Ali Shah Zoo, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Thiruvananthapuram Zoo, Thiruvanantapuram, Kerela. Nahargarh Rescue Centre, Jaipur, Rajasthan. Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Garden, Mysore, Karnataka. Mukundpur Zoo, Rewa, Madhya Pradesh. PS: They don't really look smaller than the wild ones, but definitely lighter. Wild tigers who put those arms to use are gonna have much more muscle mass...& generally more fat. 
Probably father of that tiger above. I dont know the age, but he looked like prime animal. Perhaps triffle taller than his son, but still average height for adult amur male. On the other hand he is quite robust. I estimate him to be 210 - 220 kg...which means good average for amur male in shape. Zoo Nurnberg.
Amur tigers are often tall, long and lean, but this one looks rather like bengal - not so tall and long as those amurs, but more robust
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