Marbled Cats in Zoos

animalszoos

animalszoos

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
Which zoos currently keep marbled cats?
Has anyone (on zoochat) seen any marbled cats (I know Devilfish has)?
Which zoos have kept marbled cats?

Saigon, Khao Kheow, Nakhon Ratchasima Zoo and Howletts have all displayed marbled cats publically, although I am almost certain sure they are not there anymore.

Al Bustan Zoological centre in the UAE also keeps a breeding pair of marbled cats, I believe this is the only ISIS registered place marbled cats are currently kept in captivity.

Apparently Alipur Zoo (Kolkata) also keeps marbled cats:
- this video does not clearly show footage of marbled cats and I am not entirely sure it is a marbled cat.

Another video showing marbled cats in Sreemongal, Bangladesh:

These videos show a caged, young marbled cat(s).
 
Coelacanth18 said:
When and for how long did LA have marbled cats? Did they breed them?
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A marbled cat was born and successfully hand-reared at Los Angeles Zoo in 1974; there is an article about this in one of the International Zoo Yearbooks.

I saw marbled cats in LA Zoo several times in the 1980s; I haven't been to LA for many years and I am not sure how long they remained in the collection.
 
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animalszoos said:
Apparently Alipur Zoo (Kolkata) also keeps marbled cats:
- this video does not clearly show footage of marbled cats and I am not entirely sure it is a marbled cat.

Another video showing marbled cats in Sreemongal, Bangladesh:

These videos show a caged, young marbled cat(s).
Click to expand...

Those Bornean videos are very impressive - the same guy has also uploaded videos of a young otter civet! (among other treasures)

The Indian and Bangladeshi videos both seem to show leopard cats. :/
 
devilfish said:
The Indian and Bangladeshi videos both seem to show leopard cats. :/
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I thought the same thing initially, based on how brightly coloured the Bangladeshi animal seemed to be, but when I paused the video at a point where the face was most clearly visible (00:15) it definitely looked like a Marbled Cat as opposed to a Leopard Cat.

The Indian video is so blurry that, truth be told, it's hard to tell it is a cat let alone which species of cat :p
 
TeaLovingDave said:
I thought the same thing initially, based on how brightly coloured the Bangladeshi animal seemed to be, but when I paused the video at a point where the face was most clearly visible (00:15) it definitely looked like a Marbled Cat as opposed to a Leopard Cat.

The Indian video is so blurry that, truth be told, it's hard to tell it is a cat let alone which species of cat :p
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You're right! The Bangladeshi video is of a marbled cat! I had skipped through most of it but going by pelage and colouration on the first frame I assumed it was a leopard cat. I hadn't expected a marbled cat to have such a lightly coloured coat. Thanks!

You're right about the Indian video, but even just looking at the tail and gait of the animals they don't look at all like marbled cats. Here's a shot of one including its tail: Stock Image - Joel Sartore
There are a few other beautiful shots of the animal on that site as part of the Photo Ark project. :)
 
The horrendous quality of the video from the zoo in India does make identification nearly impossible. However, near the end you can see the length of the tail is quite short - does not even reach the ground. Marbled cats have unusually long tails, so it is not a marbled cat. Based on tail length alone, my guess would be fishing cat.
 
The Borneo video is intriguing and depressing - an older cub in a very small cage. Is it for sale illegally? Is it an illegal pet? Either it was rescued as an orphan or (more likely) it was taken from the wild.

I did have a personal conversation a couple years ago with the owner of a specialized zoo who was going to add marbled cat and flat headed cat from an Asian native wildlife center. However the zoo closed so that put an end to that (as far as I know, unless he is still going to get some to rear privately).
 
The Bangladeshi one is indeed a marbled cat. At first, the markings and colouration made it seem as if it was not a marbled cat, but the bushy, long tail and face confirm it is a marbled cat.
 
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Arizona Docent said:
The horrendous quality of the video from the zoo in India does make identification nearly impossible. However, near the end you can see the length of the tail is quite short - does not even reach the ground. Marbled cats have unusually long tails, so it is not a marbled cat. Based on tail length alone, my guess would be fishing cat.
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Yes the tail is quite short and thin and the legs seem to be quite long - unlike marbled cats. Markings (especially around the leg) also suggest it could be another species of cat or even another animal such as a civet.

Marbled-cat-side-profile-captive.jpg

Just in case anyone was wondering: here is a picture of the marbled cat which was at Saigon Zoo

The%20Marbled%20Cat.jpg

This one was at Howletts (20 years ago)

Confiscated-illegally-imported-marbled-cat-in-cage.jpg

And this marbled cat was part of a large (illegal) shipment of wild animals which was travelling from Laos. It was then confiscated at Bangkok airport and the cat stayed at Khao Kheow Zoo - although it was a lone male (so it didn't breed) and has probably died (it was kept at the zoo in 2010) or has been sent elsewhere.

Marbled cats do occur in the illegal wildlife trade- especially their skins. But they are sometimes captured and end up in the pet trade.

Does anyone know where the Al Bustan marbled cats came from?
 
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devilfish said:
Those Bornean videos are very impressive - the same guy has also uploaded videos of a young otter civet! (among other treasures) :/
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There are other people posting videos of rare animals in their house as well:
this one had a banded linsang and they also had a flat-headed cat!
 
Tim May said:
A marbled cat was born and successfully hand-reared at Los Angeles Zoo in 1974; there is an article about this in one of the International Zoo Yearbooks.

I saw marbled cats in LA Zoo several times in the 1980s; I haven't been to LA for many years and I am not sure how long they remained in the collection.
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Further to my earlier post, I now have time to provide a more complete answer:-

The International Zoo Yearbook I referred to was the 1976 edition.

According to the article, LA Zoo's original pair of marbled cats were a female received in February 1966 and a male which arrived in January 1969. Litters were born in both 1971 and 1972 but the kittens did not survive. A new female marbled cat was acquired in 1973 and the kitten hand-reared in 1974 was believed to be the first successfully reared in captivity.
 
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