Designing a Zoo Exhibit

You said: Design a care program to recreate as much as possible the tiger's natural feeding habits and diet.

That's a nice idea, but you may not be doing the tiger any favors. In the wild, tigers kill and eat a prey animal once or twice a week. The rest of the time, they rest, or unsuccessfully hunt for prey. It's very difficult to recreate this situation in a zoo by putting a live prey animal into the exhibit. The public outcry alone would soon stop you. Also, leaving carcasses to rot in the exhibit would pose a health hazard to the tigers, and zookeepers might soon tire of cleaning them up.

A diet of relying entirely on commercial feline food can cause healthy teeth (left) to develop tooth and gum problems (right)	Many zoos feed animal carcasses to their tigers. Tigers which gnaw on caracasses, bone and all, have fewer gum and teeth problems. Carcasses can also make zoo tigers happier and more active. However, they also may contain bacteria or parasites which could contaminate the exhibit's dirt floor and make the tiger ill.
Other zoos feed their tigers on a commercial feline food, which has been designed by biologists and nutrionists to give the tiger all the nutrients it needs. Commercial food has no dangerous bacteria or parasites and lets the keeper accurately monitor how much food the tiger eats.
Most zoos feed their tigers on a mix of commercial food and animal carcasses. No matter which diet is used, all zoos give their tigers a cow's kneebone (called a knucklebone) once a week to avoid dental problems.
Photo: Thomas Cajacob	Where you feed the tiger is as important as when you feed the tiger. If you feed the tiger in the exhibit, you cannot examine it or monitor its diet. Sick tigers rarely show any symptoms except a poor appetite, so it is very important to watch carefully how much a tiger eats at night. After three days without eating, a medical exam is necessary.

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