Friday, May 18, 2012

Remembering "Rex"

Today's Endangered Species Day so I thought it would be appropriate to share some pictures of one of our leucistic (white) Bengal tigers that passed away two weeks ago.

He was known as "Rex", and he lived with his brother "King Zulu" at the Audubon Zoo for the past 13 years.
Photo by: Maria DiFulco
Rex, unfortunately lost his battle to cancer at the ripe old age of 16. In the wild their life span is 8-10 years.

These two tigers had a special bond, which is unusual for their species.
Photo by: Sarah Rosedahl
Normally tigers are known to be very territorial and solitary animals, but these brothers seemed to genuinely enjoy each other's company.
Photo by: Emily Esposito
They acted as great ambassadors of their species to teach people about the declining number of tigers. Bengal tigers are the subspecies with the most representatives in the wild, but even they are running into hunters that see them as trophies or ingredients in medicine.

Visitors and Keepers alike will surely miss Rex, but I wonder if Zulu will miss him even more.
Photo by: Terri Casso-Witt



Huge thank you for all of the wonderful photos taken by vistors/adoring fans! You can see more on the Audubon Zoo's facebook page.

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