Zeus & Apollo
Panthera tigris
- TIGER
Zeus was born May 2, 2001.
Apollo was born on June 17, 2001.
White
tigers are one of the rarest animals on earth.
The White
Tiger has been extinct in the wild for over 45 years and number less than
500 in the entire world.
Zeus and
Apollo have a very clear and strong ancestry. They are direct descendants of
the last
White Tiger to live in the wild. The
Maharaja of Borada discovered the last known wild white tiger
in 1951 and
captured it to prevent it from being killed.
He donated
the Tiger, named Mohan, to the National Zoo in Washington DC in 1955.
Mohan
sired his first white cub in 1958. While it is
true that ALL white tigers are “related” to Mohan,
tragically not all have a
clean bloodline like Zeus & Apollo.
Some less
than credible breeders have allowed inbreeding to occur to make money.
The
facility where Zeus & Apollo were born take great care to insure
the gene
pool is preserved and protected. This means
these two
Royal White Bengal Tigers will have a very important role
in the survival of
these rare animals for future generations.
Royal White
Bengal Tigers are similar to the orange Bengal Tigers in growth,
development
and “catitude”. What makes
them different is the ground color to their fur.
One is a creamy white, the
other is orange.
The staff
at Cat Tales spend many hours each day doing animal observations
as well as
conditioning exercises. Our staff
observe growth and development phases as well
as play activity and sleep
patterns.
Conditioning exercises include teaching the animals to do normal
behaviors on cue and one-on-one keeper time. This is very beneficial since many of the cats
are part of the public outreach
program here at the zoo
as well as
being part of Cat Tales active involvement in working with educational
programs
for television and feature
films where close-up footage is needed.
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