Year of the tiger at London Zoo

Sarah Shaffi Friday, January 25, 2013
8:36 PM

London Zoo is celebrating the year of the tiger this year, even though in the Chinese calendar it’s the Year of the Snake.

An atist's impression of the aerial view of Tiger Territory at ZSL London Zoo.

The zoo’s new Tiger Territory, a £3.6million flagship exhibit, is due to open in just two months.

It will be home to ZSL London Zoo’s latest arrivals, Jae Jae and Melati, a pair of Sumatran tigers.

Visitors to Tiger Territory will see Jae Jae and Melati in an Indonesian-inspired habitat, which has been designed to meet the sensory need of the endangered animals.

The new 2,500 sq m Tiger Territory has been created with ZSL’s team of tiger keepers and conservationists.

It features high feeding poles to encourage the natural predatory behaviours of tigers and tall trees for the cats to scale.

Visitors will be able to see the tigers hanging out in their custom-built pool, and the cats will also have all-day access to indoor dens where visitors will be able to see them relaxing on heated rocks.

Tiger Territory will enable ZSL to breed the critically-endangered tigers at the zoo and learn more about the animals to apply to its international field conservation projects to try to reverse the bleak fate of the Sumatran tiger.