Help Save the Sumatran Tiger

Dear Sumatran tiger supporters,

Since we last reported to you, we have continued to monitor Hannah’s pregnancy. According to our calculations, she should be due towards the end of February/beginning of March 2019.

In the meantime, we are ensuring that she receives the best nutrition and enrichment; and are weighing her once a week as well as taking photographs with a special thermo-camera to monitor her health.

Thermo imaging is a noninvasive diagnostic technique that allows the examiner to visualize and quantify changes in skin surface temperature. An infrared scanning device is used to convert infrared radiation emitted from the skin surface into electrical impulses that are visualized in color on a monitor. This visual image graphically maps the body temperature and is referred to as a thermogram. The spectrum of colors indicate an increase or decrease in the amount of infrared radiation being emitted from the body surface. Since there is a high degree of thermal symmetry in the normal body, subtle abnormal temperature asymmetry's can be easily identified.

This method’s major clinical value is in its high sensitivity to pathology in the vascular, muscular, neural and skeletal systems and as such can contribute to the pathogenesis and diagnosis made by the clinician. For example:

-       To define the extent of a lesion of which a diagnosis has previously been made;

-       To localize an abnormal area not previously identified, so further diagnostic tests can be performed;

-       To detect early lesions before they are clinically evident;

-       To monitor the healing process.

We hope that we will have more good news to report next time - we’ll keep you posted!

With warm regards,

Team Tiger at the Jerusalem Zoo