The New Year brings a new arrival!

From 13 April 2019, visitors will have the chance to observe our new tigress, Kinabalu!

Kinabalu was born on 2 July 2007 in Fuengirola in Spain and arrived at Le PAL on 24 October 2018. She is now 11 years old (12 in 2 months) and when she arrived weighed in at 87 kg and measured 75 cm up to her withers.

Kinabalu is a very easy-going tigress and immediately adapted to her new building and surrounding environment. She lingered for less than a minute inside her transport crate, which is a very short time for an animal entering a new environment, and right away she was at ease with her new carers. Kinabalu has already displayed a strong character, which is partly due to her age and partly because she has already lived in two different parks (Le PAL is her third). She has been moved around due to her genetic value for the survival of her species. Kinabalu is part of a European breeding programme. This is a tiger who knows what it’s like to change location, climate, companions and food rations, which is why she so quickly felt at home here.

Kinabalu is a female with a very healthy constitution. She eats 14 kg of meat per week, usually broken down into 8 to 9 kg of chicken and 5 to 6 kg of red meat. Rations are divided up into 5 days’ worth of meals and 2 days of fasting that vary from one week to the next.

She is perfectly well-behaved, very cautious when faced with anything new. She analyses things and is therefore highly adaptable. When she meets a new carer, she approaches casually while spitting a little to show that this is her turf, and once she realises that her visitors are well-intentioned she gives up the intimidation game. Kinabalu met her mate Taru, our male tiger, around one month after she arrived. The encounter went very well. She is a highly observant and measured tigress and showed no signs of stress. When brought face-to-face with him, she seemed very much aware of her inferior weight, size and, no doubt, power compared to Taru. She took the initiative to make the first physical contact, demonstrating that she did not want to be submissive, the perfect attitude to adopt with our resident male.

A word from her carer:

“Throughout my career as an animal carer, I have never met a tiger who spoke so much. Once you are part of Kinabalu’s life and she recognises you, she uses a lot of vocal sounds. It is very impressive how much she uses vocal communication. This is probably an attitude that puts her at ease, too. She wants to establish a connection based on sharing. What’s more, the precision and ease with which she jumps onto the ledges in the night shelter is unsettling.” Delphine

So mark the date in your diary: 13 April 2019 to meet our magnificent tigress Kinabalu!