A native Irishman has moved into his new home in Frankfurt: The Sumatran tiger Emas moved to the zoo's cat jungle after the Christmas holidays after he had completed the necessary veterinary medical examinations in the quarantine area in the previous two weeks.

Thus, a pair of tigers can now be seen again, after the eight-year-old female tiger, Cinta, came to Frankfurt from Prague at the end of October and had previously lived alone in the cat jungle.

The two tigers are not being kept together, at least for the time being, because they first have to get used to each other.

If there are signs that the animals get along well, a merger is planned, the zoo said.

Hoping for offspring

Emas was born in Dublin Zoo in 2009 and has lived in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, since 2015.

Neither he nor the eight-year-old Cinta have had offspring so far.

“Emas is a calm and sociable tiger cat.

We hope that he can lure the somewhat shy tigress out of her reserve,” says zoo director Christina Geiger.

Tigers are loners and usually only come together during the mating season, but the proximity of a conspecific can still have a positive effect.

“Our two tigers are already older animals.

However, since they have never bred, their offspring would be extremely valuable genetically to the zoo population.

If we realize that the two get along well, we will leave Emas and Cinta together when the time comes.

If they like each other, there is hope for offspring.”

The tiger subspecies living in Sumatra is extremely rare.

Estimates by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) assume that there are only around 400 animals that still live in their ancestral homeland.

Above all, poaching and large-scale deforestation and the loss of natural prey are putting pressure on the remaining population.

The Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) has been committed to protecting the lowland rainforests in the Bukit Tiga Puluh region on Sumatra since 2000.

This biodiversity hotspot is home to many endangered species, including orangutans, elephants and tigers.

With income from the voluntary nature conservation euro introduced in 2021, the zoo supports, among other things, the work of the FZS in Sumatra.

According to the concept of the zoo, Cinta and Emas should also act as ambassadors for this FZS project in Frankfurt.