New York is the home of the largest zoo in the world! The Bronx Zoo, which is our next stop!Way back in 1895 this zoo was founded by the Wildlife Conservation Society. The goal of this zoo is to save wildlife and inspire people to care about our natural heritage. The Bronx zoo has many firsts for zoos, including a full-time veterinarian, an established animal hospital and does not use cages to keep the animals, they use a more naturalistic environment for their animals.
We are going to be stopping by many cages of endangered species today so be sure to stay close to your partner and teacher. The first stop at the zoo is the Siberian Tiger!
The Siberian Tiger is one of the 5 surviving species of tigers today! There are only (estimated) 350-400 Siberian Tigers in nature and only 5,000 tigers of all of the sub-species in
the world! The Siberian Tiger is the largest of all tiger species, with adult males as large as 9-11 feet and weighing 400-600 pounds! Where the female adults can reach 8-9 feet and weigh 250-400 pounds! Wow, what big tigers!There are currently 5 tigers at the Bronx zoo that we will be seeing shortly, their names are; Sasha, Norma, Alexis, Rika, Tarus and Zeff!
Here are a few fun facts about tigers before we go on to our next stop!
-Tigers use their orange and black stripes as a camouflage, to help keep off predators!
-Unlike house cats, tigers love to swim!
-At one time an adult tiger can eat up to 50 pounds of food! (After this they usually don't eat for up to a week!)
and last of all,
-There used to be 8 sub-species of tigers, but in the last century the number has dropped to only 5 sub-species!
Now we have seen all these great species I think that it is time to take a break. What better place than Central Park. So let's hop aboard a taxi and go relax in one of the largest parks!
