In announcing Olan’s debut to zoogoers, zoo officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday to unveil the elevated trails connecting the three enclosed habitats — a feature making this South Florida zoo unique to other habitats nationally.
Since Olan’s arrival from a zoo in El Paso, Texas, he’s revealed to the zoo’s caretakers his agility through the habitat’s trails, his endearment to smelling cinnamon and his wild playfulness.
The zoo hopes to breed the tigers to preserve the endangered species, yet the zoo’s veterinarian Carrie Ullmer said it takes lots of examinations to determine whether the tigers' genetics are compatible.
Every tiger is different, she said, but Olan is “bold,” and she recounted Olan's playfulness with giant boomer balls or large tubs of water.
Among the sound of rustling leaves and a trickling waterfall, the 11-year-old tiger momentarily stared up at a large log — his access point connecting trail corridors for the zoo’s new neighboring habitat.
