Staten Island Zoo 2010 - Amur Leopard exhibit in African Savanna building

September 2010

Amur Leopard exhibit in African Savanna building. Even if the exhibit was better, having Asian cats in an Africa-themed building is not acceptable.

Fossa makes no sense either

maybe they have amur leopards because they are the ssp leopard species

Even so, absurd. I'm all for conservation but geographical distribution must be adhered to in themed section. The last thing I want to see for instance is an Asiatic Elephant in an Africa section, no matter if the zoo had them or not before they decided to build that section.

They are planning to build a new enclosure for the Amur Leopards next to the Aquarium building. It was marked on the map I received as "Future Leopard Enclosure" if I remember correctly, even if I don't recall seeing the construction site.

This is a strange looking enclosure. Did they have access to an outdoor area?

No, they didn't. But hopefully they'll get the new outdoor exhibit soon.

Yes, I believe that the new exhibit is about to begin construction.

For more:
http://www.zoochat.com/22/amur-leopard-exhibit-planned-116674/

Your example uses animals that are not only different species, but in entirely different genera. The Amur leopard is merely a subspecies of a species that occurs in Africa, the genetic difference is not great. Now if you take into account that all non-Amur leopards are being phased out, that leaves a lot of zoos with leopard exhibits that aren't totally accurate.

I realise now that my example was odd and I could have used a different one if I had given myself time to think before posting.

I'll assume that what you say about all non-Amur Leopards being phased out only applies to American zoos, and I'm sorry if that is indeed the case. In fact, it is absurd. Several other subspecies are also in great danger.

I don't question the importance of a breeding program for Amur Leopards (there being only around 50 left in the wild) but considering all the space and resources available in all the AZA zoos, it would seem strange for all the zoos to focus on that subspecies only and just ignore all the others that need help. In Europe I think there is interest in bringing in more leopards of subspecies that have become rare in captivity.

That's the thing. There isn't the space and resources available. Leopards are not the big draw that lions and tigers are so fewer zoos devote space to them. If all the current space devoted to leopards in AZA zoos was only Amur leopards, we MIGHT be able to have a sustainable population. Also seeing as the Amur is the only subspecies in trouble that has any kind of numbers in AZA zoos, it makes sense to focus on that one, rather than split the scant resources amongst multiple subspecies.