Not a lot of ocelots | NT News THIS ocelot at Darwin's Crocodylus Park is the last of her kind in Australia after her sister had to be put down this month. Zoo supervisor Simon Ferguson said the park had two of the South American felines until recently when Chloe, 19, had to be put down because of tumours. Her sister Eva, also 19 years old, is now the last ocelot in Australia. "Eva is basically blind but she has an amazing mental picture of her enclosure," Mr Ferguson said. "She's still in good health, although maybe a little tubby." Mr Ferguson said because ocelots are such solitary cats, Eva has not been pining for her sister. And though Eva doesn't draw as much attention as her feline cousins at Crocodylus Park, the public do spend a lot of time looking for her. "The ocelot's camouflage is amazing," Mr Ferguson said. He said the life of expectancy of an ocelot is about 20 years so if people want to see one they should come to Crocodylus Park soon
Yes, but WHY is it Australia's last ocelot? They are legal to import, they are, like most wild cats, becoming endangered while still being reasonably available, and they are, though small, spectacular and attractive animals. I'm answering my own question, I suppose, when I say that their presence or absence in our zoos won't change gate-takings at all. The major Aussie zoos make all the right sounds about conservation breeding etc. but when you get right down to it they seem mostly interested in large mammals because that's what attracts the general public. They charge plenty, too. Last week I visited Honolulu Zoo, which has a good collection. Adult admission? $14. Contrast that with Taronga, where admission is $40 odd and rising.
I would like to see more conservation of Asian small cats on Australia rather than South American and African cats. There are plenty Asian ocelot-looking cats.
True, true, but why not both? How much does it cost to maintain a small cat or two? My old girl at home, who is sitting on my lap as I type (and I'm talking about my cat not my wife) costs me about $5 a week to maintain.
Yet Australian zoos also keep plenty of Sth Am parrots and primates. Keeping a Sth Am cat species should not really be a problem. As it stands Aust zoos aren't exactly falling over themselves in maintaining Asian cats - Clouded leopard, Asian caracal and Golden cats are pretty much (or have) gone. Why can't the public have a good Sth Am themed exhibit too (still Gondwana)? Throw in species already available in the region - agoutis, iguanas, boas, even cane toads and aquarium fish and you have a decent range of exhibits.
I am looking at it from a conservation stand point. Although cats may not cost much per day, they still need real estate and care from keepers/vets, so if resources are an issue, then why not Asian cats instead of South American cats? We are closer to South East Asia than we are to South America, and many Aussies have a connection with SE Asia (many nationals of those countries live here and many Aussies have visited Bali, Malaysia and Vietnam). So although I would love to see cats from all over the world here, with limited resources, Asian cat conservation seems like the more logical choice.
All gone now. The last clouded leopard died at Melbourne in 2008. The last caracal died at Melbourne earlier this year (2014). The last golden cat was also at Melbourne and was gone by the end of 2009. The only small cats left in the country now are servals (common), a few fishing cats at Taronga and Melbourne, and the one geriatric ocelot.
yes I left puma out of the list just based on body size. When I first visited Melbourne Zoo the small cat cages held (from memory) clouded leopard, golden cat, fishing cat, serval, caracal, leopard cat, ocelot, jaguarundi, maybe bobcat? Now what is at the zoo? Serval and fishing cat! With regards to ocelots (given that that is the subject of the thread), Ara notes on another older thread that Adelaide bred 32 ocelots between 1963 and 1976. Now there's just one in the country.
Also, the small cat row has been demolished so you can't see either of those species at Melbourne Zoo at the moment. Werribee has servals but I think it's only as an extra tour and not a regular exhibit. Where did the golden cats go? Did they move to New Zealand? And I would love to see clouded leopards in the country again. The last one in Australia lived alone in Melbourne for a long time and there was never much attention drawn to it.
The servals at Werribee can be seen during the free, daily serval show, but for all intents and purposes, they are more or less off-display. You can pay extra to do a serval encounter where you get to pat (not PAT ) them.
What continues to puzzle me ... (as an outsider, so do not hold it against us ) that ZAA zoos seem to be lacking in operational focus on target species or regions when in comes to maintaining collections and population management of exotics (and not just carnivores). It seems to me it would not be too hard on ZAA zoos to have a select a first focus and good population management of Asian carnivores and (even perhaps) on selected South American felids (2-3 species) and African (2-3 species). Asian carnivores meant: tropics tigers (high profile), Javan leopard (high profile), clouded leopard, dhole, fishing cat, flat-headed cat and marbled cat (?) and several species of the civet family. That would make a high end conservation success story possile, a direct link to various in situ conservation programs / projects a real reality and provide for a pretty diverse felid, canid and other small carnivore exhibits in Australian / New Zealand zoos. By South American felids, I would go for one larger (jaguar) and 2 smaller felids like ocelot and margay. With African species, it would be pretty much lion, hyaena and wild dog. Perhaps add-ons: bat-eared fox and ... serval. Well it is a wish-list, but .. I think / feel not entirely unrealistic. Would do you locals all think / make of this?
Ocelots and margays looks similar re: small spotted cat, so maybe replace one with a cat with no spots so as not to confuse the average zoogoer . Pampas Cat? Puma? Jaguarundi? Australia has a few specimens of lion, hyena, wild dog, fenec ox and serval already. What about African golden cat?
The last one in Australia was an old female at Melbourne Zoo in 2009 and she was gone by January 2010. I assume she died in 2009 because I don't think she went to NZ (but I could be wrong). All the others had been sent over to NZ in various preceding years where they did not do well at all, and eventually the remaining few animals were exported to Europe. Interestingly enough, having Asian golden cats in Australia wasn't due to some new-fangled collection-plan idea of ARAZPA -- they had been been kept and bred continuously at Melbourne since 1968 (!!) when the first five animals were imported from Europe and the USA. There were all sorts of issues over the years with cats killing each other: male killing male, female killing female, killings during attempted introductions of pairs, one of a long-term pair suddenly killing the other, on two occasions males killed females directly after mating ....these things are like homicidal maniacs!
Possibly because they are made to live in "happy families" (pairs) in zoos when in the wild they are solitary animals which only come together to mate, when the female is ready.
now apparently just the one fishing cat left in Australia now (a female at Taronga). (And seeing CGSwans mentioned pumas, there are just three of those left in the country, all female -- one at the National Zoo in Canberra and two at Dreamworld).
There are pumas at Wild Animal Encounters in Sydney, Not sure how many though. They also has servals, lions, Bengal tigers and many primates
