Weaving through bamboo stalks and around a bubbling stream, a 283-pound Malayan tiger lazily paced his enclosure as Zoo Knoxville officials introduced him during a media event Wednesday. Having just recently arrived at his new home, Jango is getting comfortable in his life as one of three Malayan tigers at the zoo.
During Wednesday’s event, zookeeper Wendy Boulger yelled Jango’s name and waited at a fenced doorway with bottles of goat’s milk and blood juice, a mixture of all the runoff from the tigers’ meat dinners. Zookeepers are still working on Jango’s training, using a bright red ball with a squeaker on a stick as a guiding tool. If Jango presses his nose to the ball, he gets a treat. Training like this will eventually help with procedures like blood draws for medical checks.
“When he comes over here, we want to make sure that everything for him is reinforcing. Feeding him his diet on a stick, he associates us with food,” Boulger said.
Jango will be part of the breeding program with the zoo’s only female tiger, 11-year-old Batari. For the past two years, the zoo attempted to breed Batari with Tahan, a 16-year-old tiger who sired two litters of cubs before arriving at Zoo Knoxville in 2022.
Tahan is reaching the end of his breeding years. Zoo officials said Malayan tigers often only live to their early teens in the wild but can live up to 20 years in captivity. Boulger explained that Tahan was having a hard time keeping up with the younger Batari.
“As much as he wanted to follow her around and mount her as many times as they should, he physically couldn't do that,” Boulger said. “That’s why we decided this is too much for him. We need to make sure he has a good life. So, that’s why Jango was brought in.”
Jango, Tahan and Batari have separate enclosures because they are solitary animals in the wild. Any interaction between Batari and Jango for mating will be closely monitored during what the zoo calls their “howdy time.” Two dens are set up with a metal door that has holes so the tigers can see and smell each other. Zookeepers will look for positive indicators like chuffing noises, rolling on their backs or rubbing their cheeks against the door, then slowly inch the door open to introduce the tigers.
“There’s only maybe 200 of them left in the wild and only about 50 to 60 in facilities, so we want to make sure they’re safe first and foremost,” Boulger said. “If any of them show any kind of negative behavior at that howdy door or if we put them together, then we will separate them immediately.”
Neither Batari nor Jango have had cubs before, making their genetics all the more important for the Malayan tigers. With so few Malayan tigers left in the world, Boulger said an important part of the breeding program is to maintain genetic diversity, like what would naturally occur in the wild.
“Because he’s young, he’s ready to go,” Boulger said about Jango. “[Jango will be] a more appropriate aged tiger for [Batari] to give her what they would have out in the wild.”
