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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted at 4:18 p.m., Monday, November 19, 2007

Honolulu Zoo's Sumatran tigers get new exhibit wing

Advertiser Staff

A new wing of the Honolulu Zoo's Sumatran tiger exhibit was dedicated this afternoon.

Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann unveiled the $210,000 wing, which was paid for by private donors who contributed to the 2006 "Tiger Moon" fundraiser.

The Honolulu Zoo is entrusted by the American Zoo & Aquarium Species Survival Plan, to breed the critically endangered Sumatran tiger pair, Berani and Chrissie, who arrived in Honolulu from the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo in Indiana in November 2005. The Honolulu Zoo Society answered Honolulu Hale's call for help to raise funds to expand the existing facilities, which for the last two years have required that only one tiger may be out on exhibit at a time.

The new wing encompasses a 75-foot by 45 -foot space, includes a 6-foot by 8-foot glass viewing area and pool. Tropical rainforest landscaping will provide a pleasing visitor experience and a naturalistic habitat for the tigers to thrive. The new exhibit will also enable each of the female tigers, Djelita and Chrissie to have their own territories. The male, Berani, will rotate among the two enclosures for conjugal visits with Chrissie, with whom he has already produced a litter of cubs in Indiana.

Tiger gestation is 3 months, the same of as for domestic cats, and the average litter includes two to four cubs. Sumatran tigers are the smallest of the five tiger subspecies, and critically endangered. There are 400 to 500 remaining in the wild and only 200 in zoos worldwide.