Chimpanzee bottle feeds tiger cubs at Thai zoo

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk

A two-and-half-year-old male chimpanzee named Dodo has been feeding the cubs every day for more than a year at the Samut Prakarn Crocodile Farm and Zoo.

Dodo's trainers at the zoo around 25 miles south east of Bangkok in Thailand initially just wanted to challenge the chimp.

Since he showed no fear of the tiger cubs, they worked with him until he picked up the habit.

"It's not difficult as he knows how to hold the bottle. I just taught him to hold it and stay with the cub. I've been teaching him everyday so he can do it," said 35-year-old Sirinaj who has been working at the zoo for 20 years.

The only problems is when he ignores his feeding tasks and just plays with cubs – aged between three weeks to five months.

The zoo said that the cubs will eventually outgrow Dodo and will need to be moved to an area more suited to their size.

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Newborn white tiger cubs make public debut

A litter of rare white tiger cubs have been unveiled at a zoo in northern Germany. Fewer than 250 white tigers exist worldwide, most of them in captivity

From:guardian.co.uk

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Source: AP

Tiger Camouflaged in Tall Grass. Beautiful...

Liger goes to 'London' for a light lunch

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

At first glance it seems this 12-foot long, 900-pound prowling beast is on the loose round the streets of London, simply taking in a tour of traditional sights.

The liger often has a very limited life span as well as birth defects and other mutation Photo: Barry Bland / Barcroft Media

The liger is a hybrid cross between a male lion and a tigress Photo: Barry Bland / Barcroft Media

However, he is in fact in the warm climate of the Freestyle Music Park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Walking round the mock-up English town that is a tribute to the British music invasion of the States in the 1960's,

The liger is a hybrid cross between a male lion and a tigress Photo: Barry Bland / Barcroft Media

Hercules struts his stuff round the village like a hipster from the swinging sixties. And in a graphic display of his incredible size and strength, Hercules stops for a spot of lunch from the top of an iconic double decker bus, eating his way through some of the 25 pounds of meat and gallon of water he needs each day.

The liger is a hybrid cross between a male lion and a tigress and borrow characteristics from both species. Ligers enjoy swimming which is a characteristic of tigers and are very sociable like lions.

The liger often has a very limited life span as well as birth defects and other mutations.

In the wild it is virtually impossible for lions and tigers to mate. Not only are they enemies likely to kill one another, but most lions are in Africa and most tigers in Asia.

Today there are also believed to be a handful of ligers around the world and a similar number of tiglons, the product of a tiger father and lion mother.

Tiglons are smaller than ligers and take on more physical characteristics of the tiger.

Other exotic hybrids include the zeedonk , a cross between a zebra and a donkey; the zorse or zebroid, a zebra/horse cross; and the beefalo, an American bison/ domestic cow cross.

Another rare creature is the wolphin, the offspring of a whale and a dolphin.

Back in the big cat world zoos in Japan, Germany and Italy have bred leopons, a male leopard/lioness cross, while Salzburg Zoo in Austria has bred jaguar/leopard hybrids known as lepjags.

Tiger born with no stripes

A snow white Bengal tiger born without stripes is believed to be the only such animal living in the wild.

Keepers at the ranch were delighted when Fareeda and her siblings were born on Christmas Day last year, but even more surprised to see Fareeda's rare lack of markings. Photo: CATERS

The six-month-old cub is so rare it is thought there are fewer than 20 others like it - all in captivity.

The female tiger, which has been named Fareeda, was born to two white Bengal tigers. Fareeda's brother Shahir and sister Sitarah both bear the typical black tiger stripes in common with 99 per cent of their species.

Fareeda, who was hand-reared by keepers at Cango Wildlife Ranch, near Cape Town, South Africa, is part of a unique breeding programme to keep the White Bengal species alive.

Keepers at the ranch were delighted when Fareeda and its siblings were born on Christmas Day last year, but even more surprised to see Fareeda's rare lack of markings.

Odette Claassen, 52, from Cango Wildlife Ranch, said the keepers had to wait six months before they could be sure Fareeda definitely did not have stripes.

She said: "Some cubs develop stripes in their first few months but after six months it's clear that Fareeda is truly one of the rarest of her kind.

"When she was born Fareeda had noticeably pale colour it did cause a stir of excitement amongst the staff.

"But we knew there was the possibility of the cub's very light black and ginger stripes darkening over time existed.

"Most white Bengal tigers are bred in the US from a single male captured in the 1950s, but Fareeda is the first to be born in Africa, which is very special.

"She has a lovely nature and loves playing with her brothers and sisters, although she has nipped me a few times when she wants a feed.

"White Bengal tigers are not albino, they have distinctive blue eyes, and they used to be found in Northern India before they died out.

"My hope is that one day Fareeda and her kind can be returned to their native habitat and that is why it is so important to educate people about tigers and keeping the breeding programmes going."

The four faces of the Bengal tiger

Displayed for the first time in a specially constructed studio in South Carolina, these 18 images show the four varieties of Bengal tiger.

click here for these amazing Pictures!!! | digg story