Mammalwatching.com often has photos of rare cats e.g. African Golden Cat pictures from Bwindi Forest – Mammal Watching
Chinese Mountain Cats have been in a few Chinese zoos - there are a number of photos in the Zoochat galleries. Probably @baboon would know the current holders, if any. There are captive Iriomote Cats on Iriomote, but they are not on public display.
All the cats onTigergem's list have been kept in European zoos: Sunda clouded leopard: Berlin Zoo, Cologne, Frankfurt, London, Vienna Marbled cat: Agrate Conturbia, Berlin Zoo, Bristol, Copenhagen, Den Hague, Halle, Hamburg, Howletts, London, Rotterdam, Vienna, Wuppertal Bay cat: Rome Flat-headed cat: Frankfurt, London, Rotterdam, Wassenaar, Wuppertal African golden cat: Amsterdam, Berlin Zoo, Bremen, Frankfurt, Howletts, London, Port Lympne, Rotterdam, Tilburg, Wuppertal Black-footed cat: Amsterdam, Antwerp, Banham, Belfast, Berlin Zoo, Chester, Colchester, Delbrück-Schöning, Ebeltoft, Frankfurt, Glasgow, Hamerton, Hermival les Vaux, Howletts, Leipzig, Lodz, London, Marwell, Port Lympne, Rotterdam, Sandwich, Schwerin, Seine-et-Marne, Wuppertal Andean mountain cat: Hannover, Leipzig, Rotterdam Pampas cat: Agrate Conturbia, Berlin Zoo, Chester, Kilverstone, London, Munich, Rotterdam, Vienna, Wuppertal Kodkod: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Wroclaw
There was some discussion elsewhere on this forum whether or not the Rome bay cat was correctly identified. This is an issue whenever discussing zoo species from before the mid twentieth century. Funny @Dassie rat mentions today about the African golden cats in the wild. Someone I know well emailed me today about recent sightings. (He is active on mammalwatching and is in the top fifteen world mammal watchers based on species seen).
I have known about the one in Gabon but not about the others. Do you know if the pair in Uganda are unrelated male/female and potential mates?
The only photo I have seen of a claimed Andean Cat in captivity is this: However I am like 99% sure that is a Pampas cat. The ground also looks similar to the exhibit at Parque de Las Leyendas... I would say like 1% Andean Cat probability haha Edit: I just saw the comment linking to pictures of a rehab animal in Bolivia, way too cool one of the best shots I have seen!
Idk the coloration is pretty damn similar to me, the nose seems to be the easiest way to identify. They are close relatives so it makes sense.
It is brighter in the Pampas cat, only slightly. The tail in an Andean Mountain cat is also considerably longer.
I follow several organizations for both species on facebook and the nose is by far the easiest way, I think. Color can be iffy because the Pampas has several variations, lighting can make things look different, etc. There are some other ways to tell - width of rings on the tail and overall length, what the back of the ears look like - but the nose is really obvious. The Andean also has thicker lines around the eyes, making them rather dramatic, while the Pampas usually doesn't. When they do have lines, they're thinner and more of a brown, not as pronounced.
From all the reading and pictures I have looked at they are quite different in many ways, however at first glance they have similar coloration. Andean have much longer fur, much more staunch compact proportions and head, longer bushier tail, and apparently I never noticed the nose difference which seems to be the easiest differentiation. The subspecies of Pampas Cat native to the Peruvian Andes is L. c. garleppi, and I am pretty sure is the lookalike specimen shown above.
I watched the BBC program 'Wild Japan' which featured a segment on Iriomote and focused on the wild pigs and macaques but no mention of the Iriomote cat which was disappointing
There are only some camera-trap surveys and some food habit research, but no thorough research such as telemetry or GPS collaring.
