This is a commercial from the 1980s showing the then "predator ecology" exhibit. It shows Pallas Cats in the current Hyrax Exhibit, Sand Cats in the Fennec Fox exhibit, Margays in the current Binturong exhibit (which for years was for Clouded Leopards) and Lynxes in the current Caracal exhibit. Were there any other species I missed?
@Chlidonias I never noticed that! Well, that's the 1980's for you, in order to make the animals seem more fierce. @pachyderm pro I think this was more based on biomes, rather than zoogeography. Kinda like the Cincinnati Zoo's then Cat House, with Jaguars in a Central American Ruined Temple all concrete hellhole, Snow Leopards in a tank that makes Pittsburgh's old snow leopard exhibit look like Bierstadt's The Rocky Mountains.
[QUOTE="Wyman, post: 1011658, member: 14155" @pachyderm pro I think this was more based on biomes, rather than zoogeography.[/QUOTE] I assume you mixed up those 2 words. If not, that proves my point.
I assume you mixed up those 2 words. If not, that proves my point.[/QUOTE] I mean biomes in the sense biomes around the world. Not just a specific region, like the North African Desert. I mean starting with a North African Desert, then going to the Sonora desert and the Himalayas, and then back to the North African Desert.
I mean biomes in the sense biomes around the world. Not just a specific region, like the North African Desert. I mean starting with a North African Desert, then going to the Sonora desert and the Himalayas, and then back to the North African Desert.[/QUOTE] Okay, thank for the explanation. That would also make sense for the lynx.
I remember the old "Predator Ecology" exhibit. When it first opened, it was limited to small numbers of people in guided groups. I think you got most of the species (although there was some changeover - I'm 90% sure there were 5 separate exhibits when this section was first opened), although I remember bobcat, not lynx (though the species may have changed over time), and ocelot, not margay; the final (fifth) exhibit was for fishing cat. At that point, all of the exhibits under the old cat house were open in one long exhibit (no separate entrances for the forest and desert sides). And as Wyman says, the exhibits at that time were specific to each species (i.e., Saharan desert, Amazon rain forest); there was no limitation to African species in the desert/mountain exhibits and Asian species in the rain forest. At the time these were first opened, the exhibits were (or at least seemed to be, to my younger self) a big step forward in the naturalism department and a real highlight of the zoo.
