Tigers, Lions, & Leopards OH, MY! (Big Cats)

The African golden cat exhibit was a long way back from the pathway and, frustratingly, I always found it extremely hard to take decent photos of them.

Somewhere I've probably got some slides of this species but none that are good enough to scan and post on ZooChat.

 

My list would be almost the same, without the African golden cat and I may have seen pampas cat at Kilverstone, but can't be sure. I can add Jungle cat though

 

Hello Pipaluk and Tim.
I forgot about seeing the jungle cat.
I saw an African golden cat at Port Lympne and/or Rotterdam. Rotterdam had a flat-headed cat on my first visit, but I don't remember seeing it.
On my first visit to Howletts, there was a marbled cat off-show, but I only found out about this after my visit.

 

The sunda clouded leopards I saw in these collections were around 6-8 years ago. The one in the mini zoo (near Kuching) was likely to be a confiscated animal which was probably - at the time - recently wild caught due to its aggression towards visitors (it could also have been an orphan). Unfortunately, you may be disappointed to know that the enclosure was not completely adequate. 'A cage' would be a more appropriate term due to the fact that it consisted of wire bars a concrete floor, ceiling and wooden platforms attached to the wall as well as a few logs.

I have just remembered that the other clouded leopard was not in a crocodile farm but was at a wildlife rescue centre (I can't remember what it was called or where it was, sorry). I recall a netted enclosure with lots of climbing logs and vegetation. This specimen was probably been released into the wild shortly after I viewed it.

Unfortunately I did not take any pictures as I saw them when I was very young.

 

I was never lucky enough to see the flat-headed cat on any of my visits to Rotterdam either.
The only time I have seen this species was in Lincoln Park (Chicago) when the curator, very kindly, took me behind the scenes especially to see the flat-headed cat although, as mentioned previously, I didn't get a very good view of it.

 

Just for fun, trying to list the cats I've seen (full species level only), sadly none of them in the wild: Lion, Tiger, Jaguar, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Clouded Leopard, Puma, Cheetah, Serval, Caracal, European Lynx, Bobcat, Jaguarundi, Ocelot, Margay, Asian Golden Cat, Rusty-spotted Cat, African Wildcat, Scottish Wildcat, Geoffroy's Cat, Leopard Cat, Pallas's Cat, Jungle Cat
Might have missed out the odd small species from the dim & distant past.

 

How could I forget Sand Cat?

 

Since when?

 

Following the new taxonomy (though I share the opinions of others when it comes to some of these revisions such as with tigers and leopard cats):

Lion Panthera leo

• Asiatic Lion Panthera leo leo
• South African Lion Panthera leo melanochaita

Jaguar Panthera onca
Leopard Panthera pardus

• Amur Leopard Panthera pardus orientalis

Tiger Panthera tigris

• Mainland Tiger Panthera tigris tigris
• Sunda Tiger Panthera tigris sondaica

Snow Leopard Panthera uncia

Mainland Clouded Leopard Neofelis nebulosa

Caracal Caracal caracal

• South African Caracal Caracal caracal caracal

Serval Leptailurus serval

Ocelot Leopardus pardalis

• Brazilian Ocelot Leopardus pardalis mitis

Oncilla Leopardus tigrinus
Margay Leopardus weidii

• Yucatán Margay Leopardus weidii glauculus

Asiatic Golden Cat Catopuma temminckii

• Tibetan Golden Cat Catopuma temminckii moormensis

Canada Lynx Lynx canadensis
Eurasian Lynx Lynx lynx

• Northern Lynx Lynx lynx lynx
• Carpathian Lynx Lynx lynx carpathicus
• Siberian Lynx Lynx lynx wrangeli

Bobcat Lynx rufus

• Eastern Bobcat Lynx rufus rufus

Cougar Puma concolor

• North American Cougar Puma concolor cougar

Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus

• South African Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus jubatus
• Sudan Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii

Jaguarundi Herpailurus yagouaroundi

Mainland Leopard Cat Prionailurus bengalensis

• Indochinese Leopard Cat Prionailurus bengalensis bengalensis

Rusty-spotted Cat Prionailurus rubiginosus

• Sri Lankan Rusty-Spotted Cat Prionailurus rubiginosus phillipsi

Fishing Cat Prionailurus viverrinus
Pallas' Cat Otocolobus manul

• Northern Pallas' Cat Otocolobus manul manul

Domestic Cat Felis catus
African Wildcat Felis lybica

• North African Wildcat Felis lybica lybica

Sand Cat Felis margarita

• Arabian Sand Cat Felis margarita thinobia

Black-footed Cat Felis nigripes
European Wildcat Felis silvestris

• Scottish Wildcat Felis silvestris silvestris

Following this new taxonomy I currently have seen 27 species and 37 taxa (including having seen non-ssp taxa along with ssp for those species; 33 not counting this)

Furthermore, following this taxonomy I will have lost the following taxa from my lifelist:

Mexican Jaguar Panthera onca hernandesii
North-Chinese Leopard Panthera pardus japonica
Malayan Tiger Panthera tigris jacksoni*
Himalayan Snow Leopard Panthera uncia uncia

Damara Caracal Caracal caracal damarensis

Florida Bobcat Lynx rufus floridanus

*Or Amur Tiger, P. t. altaica, point is I've lost a tiger ssp.

~Thylo

 

If you needed further proof that you can be a so-called expert and not know much, here it is. A ranger in Ujong Kulong National Park took a photo of a leopard and is claiming it is a Javan tiger as potential proof they are not extinct. The department of forestry is sending it out for investigation. Ummm - hello, I can save you the time right now. It took me less than a minute to judge from the tail length that it is a leopard with 100% certainty (not to mention the fact it has no stripes).
Declared extinct decades ago, a Javan tiger may have just been photographed in Java’s Ujung Kulon National Park | Coconuts Jakarta

 

Given that it's a leopard it certainly is spotted

 

My list:
Lion (African, Barbary)
Tiger (Amur, Generic)
Jaguar
Leopard
Snow Leopard
Clouded Leopard
Caracal
Serval
Geoffroy's Cat
Canada Lynx
Eurasian Lynx
Bobcat
Cougar
Cheetah
Sand Cat
Black-Footed Cat
Domestic Cat

 

4 "Golden" tigers living in Kaziranga National Park - Assam but the park officials are not happy with it :

No reason to celebrate Kaziranga's 'golden' tigers, say park officials