Malayan tigers make debut at Taipei Zoo

Taipei, May 11 (CNA) Two Malayan tigers recently brought to Taiwan from France as part of a global conservation program made their first public appearance at Taipei Zoo on Saturday.

The felines named Shima and Serikin arrived in the country on March 1 from Le Parc des Félins, a French zoological park dedicated to the breeding and conservation of wild members of the cat family.

Visitors were able to see Shima and Serikin for the first time after the two big cats completed more than two months of quarantine and adapting to their new home in Taipei, the zoo said.

It was Taipei Zoo's first time working with a global conservation program that seeks to maintain the population of the severely threatened Malayan tiger.

According to the zoo, the two cats exhibit completely different personalities, with Shima being playful and eager to explore her new environment, while Serikin was timid and cautious at first.

They are quiet and elegant animals, zookeepers said, reminding visitors to refrain from being too loud when observing them in the zoo's Tropical Rainforest Area.

Malayan tigers can be found in the the forests of southern Thailand and Malaysia, but due to habitat fragmentation and other factors including poaching, their population in the wild continues to fall, Taipei Zoo Director Chen I-tsung (諶亦聰) said.

The animal has been listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Chen added.