Leopards & Jaguars

03-01-2007

Well I say if any of our zoos are planning a good south American exhibit without Jagaurs I dont really feel its going to be complete with out them and a few Giant otters added in there as well, thats if our zoos can afford to feed them or even allowed to import them.

03-01-2007

Yes what you say is right Pat, again our zoos do a backflip with an endandered species, as we have spoke before about the rare Javan Langers, letting them dwindle down to only one pair left in the Nation, we shold be displying and breeding these animals not getting rid of them.

03-01-2007

for me, when considering a collection, i think about how important a role the species plays in its particular ecosystem, how different it is from other species displayed in our zoos, its status in the wild and other zoos, how represented their ecosytem is expected to be and how logical it is to aquire them.

for this reason i look at jaguars and leopards and think this..

1) without either species the golden rosette spotted cat (cheetah and snow leopards are quite differnt looking) or "black panther" would not be represented in our zoos, which is a shame, since they represent an very distinctive example of big cat diversity.

2) since the two species are so similar in appearance and of roughly equal conservation value and that space is at such a premium in our zoos it would be somewhat unnecessary to hold both species.

3) both species live in multiple habitat types over large ranges and would be suitable for a immersion exhibits at both open range and city zoos.

5) both are reasonably common and aquirable in captivity.

6) however, whilst the jaguars native environment has no other program big cat species represented in our zoos (pumas are phase outs), the leopard shares space in africa with two program species (lions and cheetah) and asia with another two (tigers and snow leopards)..

7) thus if we want a big cat displayed in each of our immersion exhibits then the only one that is missing one is south america!

jaguars it is for me!!

03-01-2007

Too Right mate!

03-01-2007

jag-u-ah!
jag-u-ah!
JAG-U-AH!
JAG-U-AH!

03-01-2007

and jaguars are just such beautiful aniamls, the sheer awe, when standing next to one is amazing, and it's a shame, i mean to the basic zoo goer, a 'black panter' is all they wnat to see. common misconceptions aside, the averge goer doesnt realsie and if it gets the through the gates.

and exhibit for them would be great, they area alrge cat, that is very agile, and aboreal, making for a unique exhibit in it's own right, not only then to imerge it into a whole amazonia exhibit.

03-01-2007

I vote for the jaguar!!

03-01-2007

it's u-nanemoius (i dnt bloody know lol) we allw ant jaguar over everything else, now who has the 1000's to import them lol

03-01-2007

Plenty in south America. The numbers vary over a huge range. Some are seen as far north as Arizona and Texas so they can live in the deserts as well as forests.
The Ones seen in the US have all been young males which travel looking for their own teritories.
I dont think they are common anywhere but they probobly never were.

They are one of my favorite big cats.

03-01-2007

jaguars have definately suffered at the hands of hunters like so many other big cat species. whilst the amazon basin and some other forest still have decent population densities, believe me, they are being hunted pretty ruthlessly in some parts of their range. they once occoured over a much larger range in the southern US as you mentioned, so few cross the border from mexico that they can barely be considered still an extant fauna of that country. nontheless they are a remarkable and most adaptive cat (maybe not so much as its close relative the leopard however).

04-01-2007

Our biggest lost are the Clouded leopards, not a big animal which does not need big exhibits, a Stunning looking endandered cat which requires captive breeding, I thought after looking at the Howletts website if a private zoo can keep 19 animals of which there are 5 breeding pairs and produce 27 cubs in 6 years WHY cant our zoos do the same if not better, we dont have bitter cold winters like they do there, we can give them better Housing and a better climate, but no we HAVE to phaze them out, this is another species we were going to take in and run with yet another chance of mind, a another backflip, Did we really give this species a fair go, I dont think so, So what do our zoo leaders want to do?, ah I know, lets import some spotted deer, it just what we need??. Please tell me they are doing a good job because i really feel they are losing there way.

04-01-2007

Mark, there's only one clouded leopard left in the region. They probably should never have been imported in the first place, as not enough zoos showed interest in housing them. So we ended up with a few animals, that didn't do well, and no other zoos interested in them - hardly a way to manage a species in a region like ours. That's why we are phasing out a single individual that represents a species. It's either that, or try to find another 19 or so animals overseas, and enough spaces to hold them all... But what's that I hear????? Patrick and others yelling out for Jaguars.... And what's that?? Snow Leopards as well?? And so you can see - everyone wants something different, and often, in piddling numbers that are really worthless.

And how can Howlett's do it? Becuase they have access to many unrelated animals in Europe, that are easy to obtain, cheap to transport, and managed in a region that has over 500 zoos. As opposed to here, where they are difficult to obtain, and expensive to import, and only a handful of zoos to hold them.

We, the visiting public, AND the zoos in the region, need to realise once and for all, that unless we can have a number of zoos in the region working together with a species, that are prepared to hold at least 20 animals between them, then we really are wasting our time importing pairs and very small groups of things. It's about time we got out of the stamp collecting mentality and moved on to cooperatively managed species, in viable numbers in the region. It's the only way forward.

04-01-2007

Zoopro
I think we all understand your very valid aruement. I for one am very jeolous of the European and North American region, being able to have so many zoos and so many wonderful and fascinating animals. I guess this is why when an animal is chosen it needs to be able to represent a significant 'type', region or numbers of habitats. So for instance the big cats - well lions are the apex hunters in Africa, tigers in Asia, and they represent two different 'types' - stripes and plain., as well as different habitats and modes of living (prides, singles)

jaguars could represent the americas, spotted cats, a wide range of habitats and also thet could represent that other spotted cat, the leopard.

Why can zoos not hold more than a pair or single animal, they don't don't have to be on show, the sumatran tiger at dramworld isn't?

04-01-2007

Where are the Jaguars at Mongo Zoo from and are they are breeding pair . From what I have read The southern America Jaguars which live more in forest are smaller than the northern Mexican Jaguars which range into the US. I have not read it but they sound like sub species. It also sounds like south american countries have an excess of captive animals.
Quote
"The number of jaguars, primarily confiscated from the illegal pet and international trade, in Latin American zoos is enormous. These animals are often kept in sub-optimal conditions prior to confiscation and, unfortunately, largely due to a lack of money and in some cases a lack of knowledge, often remain in sub-standard conditions at the centers that want to preserve these majestic animals."

05-01-2007

Hi Monty. Both animals are thought to be around 15-20 years old and came from Notre Dame Fauna Park (this place has been closed for a number of years now). Their origins before that are unknown. They've been at Mogo for a little under 10 years. It's quite likely they are siblings.