This thread is to discuss the best exhibits for Jaguars in the UK.Having seen a Jaguar for the second time in my life at a recent trip to Chester Zoo,It got me thinking about what are the other impressive Jaguar exhibits in the UK.The Jaguar exhibit at Chester is a spectacular exhibit with the animals having access to a large outdoor and indoor exhibits with plenty of enrichment provided for them. I'm interested in what people think.
Spirit of the Jags is by far the best Jaguar exhibit I have ever seen. I have visited 3/9 Jaguar holders in the UK (I have visited SL just don't remember the Jags) those being Chester, IOW Zoo and Paradise Wildlife Park. I would rank them as follows: 1. Spirit of the Jaguar (Chester Zoo) 2. Big Cat Territory (Paradise WP) 3. Jaguar enclosure (IOW Zoo)
Thrigby Hall is listed as a holder, but I don't think they have had one for at least 2 years. I haven't seen Dartmoor, Wildlife Heritage Foundation, South Lakes or Isle of Wight. Amazona and Wingham are adequate but nothing special. Paradise WP is the next best, but Chester is way better.
The Jaguar enclosure at the Big Cat Sanctuary, formally known as WHF, is pretty standard for them. The enclosure is nothing amazing however if you go for a photography day you get up close and personal with them. Nothing quite like having a jaguar snarl at you from a few inches with only one layer of fences between you!
I could be wrong about this as I have only been to Chester on a couple of occassions - but isn't the PWP enclosure superior to SOTJ in terms of climbing opportunities?
The Dartmoor enclosure is good imo - a lot better than Winghams. I think the only other one I have seen is IOW but it was such a long time ago I really can't remember it.
Dudley don't hold jaguar and I'm not 100% sure that they ever have. If they have had them then it would probably have been in the 1970s and they would have been in the enclosures between the tiger tecton and the Carpathian lynx which is now boarded over and has been converted to sleeping dens for the tigers. Those enclosures were pretty grim.
Without doubt the best in the UK! I've only seen zoo Di Pistoia & zoo Berlin which both were worse than Any others I've seen in Uk!
It's nice to see what everyone thinks at the moment.Has anyone ever been up close with a jaguar or had a breath taking experience with one while you have been at a zoo?
It was breath-taking enough seeing the Jaguars swimming in SotJ. I saw one up close last year when I was in Salzburg.
The jaguar at Amazona Zoo tried to grab my GoPro back in 2015, that was pretty intense. We did a photography taster at the Big Cat Sanctuary Open Day last july, and chose the jaguars, was good to get close and video.
The enclosure at Randers Regnskov in Denmark has underwater viewing (or did). I'm trying to get there to see for myself.
Digressing from jaguars in the UK, my most breath-taking experience with jaguars in a zoo was at Jacksonville Zoo where the jaguar exhibit included a large pond with underwater viewing that provided a spectacular opportunity to see the jaguars swimming. On my visit in 2009, a melanistic jaguar repeatedly dived into the water attempting to catch one of the enormous pacu kept in the pool. (I felt very sorry for the pacu which never had any respite from the jaguar's constant attention.) The jaguar didn’t catch a fish whilst I was watching but a regular visitor informed me that the black jaguar sometimes caught a pacu and, when successful, always shared the catch with her sister, a spotted jaguar, who never managed to catch a fish.
At least this encourages natural hunting behaviour like they would do in the wild. Did you take any photos?
