blackhillsheritagefestival@yahoo.com

Phone: (605) 209-4339
PO Box 9771
Rapid City, SD 57709-9771

In Rapid City for the first time!   The Royal White Tiger Discovery Education Program & Exhibit July 1 - July 4, 2009 Black Hills Heritage Festival Memorial Park, Rapid City, SD The “Royal White Tiger Discovery” program is a special designed, hands-on, interactive conservation education program goal is to promote and excite people to the many conservation issues involving the last five remaining species of tigers in the wild. This program exhibit has many features that are huge crowd pleasers. Currently there are only about 40 Royal White Tigers on exhibit in zoos throughout the United States, less than 400 in the world, and none left in the wild. We are proud to be able to bring and share these magnificent adult Royal White Tigers to the general public. * Several beautiful adult Royal White Tigers together * Over 4 tons of specialized support equipment. * Over 4,200 square feet of display exhibit. * Over 2,400 cubic feet of animal habitat viewing exhibit, allowing guests to get closer than ever before to the animals. * Special tropical jungle sound effects. * Enhanced fog ,chilled misting systems and atmosphere controlled exhibit environment. * Animal keepers on hand to answer questions from the public, and perform daily shows. * Various tiger feedings throughout the each day. * “Tiger Talk” presentation every 45 min., continuously. * Numerous presentations throughout each day. Guest are able to help keepers feed the tigers. Being able to help the keepers feed the tigers is an event that guests will not soon forget, and will also spark interest in conservation. This program is achieved by applying the method of “Recreational Learning”, (Lewis, 1988) and adding the interaction ability based on the following same study: Visitors remember..... 10 percent of what they hear 30 percent of what they read 50 percent of what the see 90 percent of what they do By allowing visitors to actually participate in many of the interactive activities we have, it is our goal to bring people closer to the true meaning of conservation, and inform as well as excite. We hope guests will get involved with conservation efforts for the last remaining five species of tigers in the world. Reading and seeing information about the tigers on television and zoos is great, but by allowing the guest to actually participate, this exhibit truly brings home the meaning of conservation. Zoo Dynamics will establish a temporary exhibit in a zoo-like setting. This allows the general public the opportunity to see these magnificent animals like they have never seen them before. The care, feeding, housing facilities, medical requirements, and very strict federal laws insist that the handling and care of such magnificent animals are such that their care should be left to those with the experience, education and knowledge in dealing with these species. We are very excited to be able to share this program with visitors, provide talks with the actual keepers, and see what is being done to help save the last remaining wild tigers in the world. “Extinct” means forever...it's not to late to get involved in conservation today! Come see these magnificent creatures, in Rapid City for the first time!

TIGER FACTS
Interesting and fun facts about Tigers !
ANATOMY
COLOR: Tigers have striped fur, usually orange stripes on black with a white underbelly. White
tigers are not albinos, and are white with dark brown or deep maroon stripes, pink noses, and blue
eyes. Black tigers (extremely rare) have orange to yellow fur with black stripes. Even rarer, stripeless
tigers have been recorded.
SIZE: Adult tigers range from 4.5 feet (1.37 m) to 9 feet (2.7 m) long. Males are larger than females.
The largest tigers are the Siberian tigers, weighing about 900 pounds (230 kg); the smallest are the
Sumatran tigers, weighing about 250 pounds (115 kg). Tigers' tails are 3-4 feet (0.9-1.2 m) long.
EYES: Like most cats, their night-time vision is very good. They have round pupils and yellow irises
(except white tigers which have blue eyes).
TEETH AND CLAWS: Tigers have retractible claws. Tigers have the largest canine teeth of any
land-based carnivores.
BEHAVIOR AND SOCIAL HABITS
Tigers are mostly solitary animals except for times of mating and when the female cares for her
young cubs. Sometimes tigers gather to share a large kill. Tigers are most active at night (they are
primarily nocturnal), but are active in the day during the winter. Tigers mark out their territory, like
most cats, by spraying their urine together with a glandular secretion, by leaving fecal droppings, or
by scratching marks into trees with their claws. Tigers need a territory of about 10-30 or more square
miles to provide enough prey to support them. The size of the territory depends on the amount of
prey available in the area.
DIET
Tigers are meat eaters (carnivores). Their prey includes small- to medium-sized mammals (like
badgers, rabbits, boars, deer, and wild cattle), ranging in size from 60 to 2,000 pounds. The usual
method of killing is to ambush the animal from behind and bite its neck; this usually breaks the
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prey's spinal cord, killing it. Tigers then drag the kill to a safe place in which they eat it. Tigers can
eat as much as 40 pounds of meat in one sitting. They can go for days at a time without eating.
HABITAT AND DISTRIBUTION
Tigers live in Asia, primarily in forests (some tigers live in areas with tall grasses, areas where they
can hide while hunting). Tigers are very good swimmers and like the water, unlike most cats.
Tigers evolved in south central China and moved to nearby areas, like Siberia, Sumatra, Indochina,
and India. There are no tigers native to Africa.
Tigers live in climates ranging from tropical rainforests to deciduous forests to cold, mountain
hardwood forests. The Siberian tiger lives in Siberia and Manchuria, in mountain forests in
elevations up to 3,000 feet.
LOCOMOTION
Tigers are very fast quadrupeds (four-legged animals), and can sprint short distances up to 50 mph.
LIFE SPAN
Tigers live about 10-15 years in the wild, and about 20 years in captivity.
REPRODUCTION
Tigers breed during the winter season, and females give birth to 2-4 blind cubs about 103 days later.
The cubs weigh about 2-3 pounds at birth. One cub frequently dies at birth. The cubs live on mother's
milk for 6-8 weeks and then are introduced to meat. Cubs are dependent on the mother for about a
year and a half; they can start hunting on their own at this age. Female tigers reach sexual maturity
at about 3 years old; males reach maturity in about 4 years.
CLASSIFICATION
Tigers belong to the:
Kingdom: Animalia (the animals)
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata (animals with backbones)
Class: Mammalia (warm-blooded animals with fur and mammary glands)
Order: Carnivora (meat-eaters)
Family: Felidae (the cats)
Genus: Panthera
Species: tigris (the tigers).
There are five tiger subspecies including the
Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris)
Siberian or Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica)-The largest member of the cat family, with an average
length of 2.8 meters.
Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae)
South China tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis)
Indochinese tiger (Panthera tigris corbetti).
There are 3 extinct subspecies, the
Bali tiger (Panthera tigris balica)
Javan tiger (Panthera tigris sondaicus)
Caspian tiger (Panthera tigris virgata).
EXTINCTION STATUS
Tigers are threatened with extinction due to loss of habitat. There are 5 surviving subspecies; 3 other
subspecies have gone extinct in the last 70 years. There are estimated to be about 5,000 to 7,400
tigers left in the wild. The Royal White Tiger has been extinct from the wild since 1958.
EXTINCT VARIETIES
There are three tiger subspecies that have become extinct in the last 70 years. They include: the Bali
tiger (Panthera tigris balica), the Javan tiger (Panthera tigris sondaicus), and the Caspian tiger
(Panthera tigris virgata).
EVOLUTION OF TIGERS
Tigers (and all the Order Carnivora which consists of all cats, dogs, bears, seals, weasels, stoats,
pinnipeds, etc.) are descended from the family of marten-like woodland animals called the miacidae.
These small omnivores evolved during the late Cretaceous period (toward the end of the age of the
dinosaurs), about 70-65 million years ago. Not many fossils of these creatures have been found.
These early quadrupedal mammals had 44 teeth including specialized, meat-cutting teeth. They had
long bodies, long tails, flexible shoulders and elbows, and short, flexible limbs. Over millions of
years these animals evolved into two major sub-orders:
Fissipeda (meaning "split feet") which includes weasels, dogs, hyenas, cats, mongooses, and relatives
Pinnipeda (meaning "fin feet") which includes sea lions, seals, and walruses.
Modern-day tigers evolved in Asia. Early tiger fossils have been found in China and Siberia. No one
knows exactly where modern-day tigers appeared first.
The saber-toothed tiger (genus Smilodon) was not the ancestor of modern tigers. It led to a branch
of cats that was an evolutionary dead-end.
For more tiger conservation information please visit:
www.zoopros.com
Zoo Dynamics
1-877-ZOO-PROS (966-7767)
Los Angeles 714-948-8078 Orlando 321-234-9213 Chicago 773-913-6480 Japan (03) 5501-9012