A young, golden-eyed and very rare tiger has been brought to the Los Angeles Zoo, making his debut Friday.
There aren't many other tigers like Castro Jr., the new resident of LA who goes by C.J. With only 400 left in the wild, the Sumatran tiger is one of the most endangered tiger subspecies in the world, according to Stephanie Zielinski, animal keeper for the Los Angeles Zoo.
"C.J. is an incredibly well-natured and energetic tiger," Zielinski said in a statement. "He has very distinct gold eyes, and he loves to swim in the different pools in his habitat."
C.J. weighs 250 pounds and was born in March, 2013, according to the Zoo. He came from the Sacramento Zoo.
C.J.could potentially breed with female tigers, which Zielinski said was an exciting prospect. There were only 245 Sumatran tigers in human care as of 2007, according to the San Diego Zoo.
Sumatran Tigers are smaller than the other five subspecies of tiger that haven't gone extinct, the LA Zoo said. They live on Sumatra, an island in Indonesia, where their habitat is being destroyed by agriculture and tigers are being killed by poachers or villagers.
