jaguarundi chapultepec zoo

jaguarundi chapultepec zoo It does have a blue pupil. I do not know if this affects the feline\'s eyesight.

Does it always look that way, or is it just an artifact of the camera flash? I suspect the latter.

I took 4 other pictures,not as good to post,and his left pupil always appeared blue.It was about 10.30 in the morning and its eye looked strange in coloration at close range.Notice that the other pupil is black. But the animal otherwise was in perfect condition.

I surprised to find out on zoochat that jaguarundis are so rare in the animal collections of the US and Europe. They are a protected species in Mexico and this animal in Chapultepec was taken from the illegal pet trade. But jaguarundis are more frequent in Latin american collections than other small spotted felines whose populations had declined due to the fur trade and which have not recovered. For example, i have seen various jaguarundis in different mexican zoos and they breed regularly in ZOOMAT in the southern state of Chiapas. I have also seen jaguarundis at parque de las Leyendas, Lima, Peru, at Riozoo and Sao Paulo zoo in Brazil, and at Buenos Aires Zoo, Argentina. On the other hand, i have only seen margays in a few mexican zoos and at parque de las Leyendas, Lima. Geoffrey´s cats only at Buenos Aires Zoo. I have never seen oncilla, though i read that parque las leyendas has them off exhibit. Ocelots i have seen in various mexican zoos, at parque las leyendas, and at Riozoo and Sao Paulo. Other zoochaters mentioned seeing jaguarundis at central american zoos. They are very adaptable animals. I would like to ask Arizona Docent if the wild population of the jaguarundi has disappeared north of the Rio Grande ?

First, about their status in U.S. zoos:They were listed as phase out by the Felid TAG (a subcommittee of the AZA that oversees cats). That means basically they decided they could not maintain a breeding group longterm in addition to the other small cats, so they told everyone in the AZA to stop breeding them. They have all since died in AZA zoos, although according to a recent Felid TAG summary that was posted here on ZooChat by Ituri (much thanks), there is some interest in bringing them back.

As far as I know, there are only three private (non-AZA) zoos in the U.S. with them: Project Survival Cat Haven (California), Exotic Feline Breeding Compound (California), Bear Creek Feline Center (Florida).

Now about wild ones in Texas:It is interesting you bring that up, because I just finished reading an article on that exact topic. It is in the current (Jan/Feb 2011) issue of the journal of the Feline Conservation Federation. The author did a search in Big Bend National Park, which borders the Rio Grande on the north side. Although he did not see any, he lists a stack of visitor information cards that he went through that undeniably describe jaguarundi. So they are definitely there. Many of the people who filled out the cards do not even know what a jaguarundi is, so they just described it as best they could, things like a cat like - weasel like animal with brown fur. This is further proof, since they obviously were not influenced by preconceptions.