I was simply defending myself and saying there was no difference, because what else am I meant to do if someone accuses me of changing my mind sporadically. I was not 'twisting' at all.
I am eager to know that as well Is it though? Do you have any link to some studies about that? Because otherwise, breeding record with small cats in Czech zoos, where they are almost every time held in close proximity of big cats, is nothing short of impressive and I wonder how they managed it with permanently stressed animals. And one very personal and very specific experience - Last summer, during my time in Plzen, there was this female of Palawan leopard cat: She already came with the "bad girl" reputation and made sure that everyone knew. Walking past her cage was enough to make her go absolutely nuts...in September, she was moved to Jihlava, where she is housed in Cat House with direct sight to Leopards and Tigers, and her mood completely changed to pretty much direct opposite • Malayan and Sumatran tigers - rotating on a half-day basis • Javan leopard, Asian lion - full-day access outside • Amur leopard, Siberian tiger - One animal is in the on-show exhibit, second has an off-show exhibit available.
Truth be told I am rather interested to learn the answer myself - I suspect the answer might well be something in the order of "the lions only have access at certain times and once they are locked out the mongooses are given access" But time will tell!
My main question about that indoor enclosure is still "why does it have an oxcart in the middle of it and nothing else?"
That was the question I was wondering as well. If that picture truly does show the entire indoor area, I'm really not sure it's suitable.
Also, a small update on the current carnivore situation in Prague - Oncillas were moved off-show/out of the collection, were replaced by jaguarundis, and their exhibit in Cat House will be probably refurbished for Rusty-spotted cats, but that is pure speculation...
Having bitten my tongue with a number of your posts, this time I’ve got to bite. Please, don’t start calling other posters “simply ridiculous”. I don’t agree with @Giant Panda , but his points are absolutely not “ridiculous”. They are well-argued, coherent, and supported by knowledge, insight and understanding. Yours, on the other hand.....
Good question. The best evidence comes from a multi-institutional study on clouded leopards, which showed significantly higher faecal corticoid levels when they were kept in proximity to large predators. Corticoids are hormones released as part of the stress response, with a range of downstream effects. Hence, higher concentrations across the recording period indicated chronic stress. I don't think the paper's open-access, so I can't link it directly, but here's the citation: Wielebnowski, N. C., Fletchall, N., Carlstead, K., Busso, J. M., & Brown, J. L. (2002). Noninvasive assessment of adrenal activity associated with husbandry and behavioral factors in the North American clouded leopard population. Zoo Biology, 21(1), 77-98. Although this research was well-publicised and there have been smaller studies with similar findings, large-scale studies on other carnivores are lacking. [Although, since you mentioned leopard cats, see: Carlstead, K., Brown, J. L., & Seidensticker, J. (1993). Behavioral and adrenocortical responses to environmental changes in leopard cats (Felis bengalensis). Zoo Biology, 12(4), 321-331.] I suspect these effects are ubiquitous, which makes adaptive sense and is supported by growing evidence that zoo visitors (another natural predator) harm welfare across the Carnivora. For example, in a recent study involving 80 individuals of 34 carnivore species, pacing decreased and more offspring were born as minimum distance between animals and visitors increased. [Citation: Miller, L. J., Ivy, J. A., Vicino, G. A., & Schork, I. G. (2019). Impacts of natural history and exhibit factors on carnivore welfare. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 22(2), 188-196.] More such research is urgently needed. In the meantime, I feel justified adopting the precautionary principle. Very interesting. Do you have any thoughts on what caused the change? Thanks for the info
Possibly the best match yet? Certainly the closest and the one to draw the most votes total! Just a pity it had to spell doom for a collection which deserved to progress no matter the result.....
I remember her from my September 2018 Plzen visit I was certainly she was going to try and nab me when I walked past her. ~Thylo
Indeed, I actually think that the stress response might differ species-wise. Maybe the clouded leopards feel more threatened by big cats as they are more direct competitors, rather than, say, Leopard cat or Rusty-spotted cat. The presence of big cats could play a part (and it was very popular joke for people who knew the female), but the bigger factor probably was that the exhibit in Jihlava suits her more than the off-show cage in Plzen. It's taller, so she has more climbing opportunities and a safe space where she is practically invisible.
If there's one thing I can infer with Chester]s win, it's that it got its long-awaited revenge on Prague. And my gosh, this is one of the most epic matches the Cup has ever seen!
