Snowleopard's Mammals: A Lifetime List of Species Mammalian and Non-Mammalian

[snowleopard]

I personally feel that the Black-footed Cat exhibits that I showcased in my post are generally very poor quality animal enclosures. The first three photos (Omaha, Birmingham, Hogle) show exhibits that are entirely indoors, with hardly any space for the cats to explore. I'm not even sure if any of those zoos still have the species, but seeing the exhibits in person revealed to me the tiny size of the environment for the Black-footed Cats and the animals were easy to locate as there weren't many hiding opportunities. I count 9 of the 16 exhibits as being all indoors 24/7, and it seems that several cat species (Bobcats, Black-footed Cats, Servals, etc.) quite often get the short end of the stick when it comes to modern zoo exhibits in North American zoos. I really wish that some European zoos had contained Black-footed Cats when I was overseas, as the general trend is for zoos in Europe to have higher quality habitats. Alas, I don't think this species is left on that continent but there are some Black-footed Cats in African zoos.

 

[snowleopard]

I've seen Sand Cats at 15 zoos and unlike Black-footed Cats (16 zoos), there's been a few in European collections. At least 6 of these exhibits are entirely indoors with no outside access, and the only open-topped example is of course in Europe. Again, the majority of my sightings occurred between 2008 and 2012.

1- Lincoln Park Zoo - Illinois (USA) – Sand Cat – 2008
2- Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden (USA) – Sand Cat – 2008
3- Mountain View Conservation Centre (Canada) – Sand Cat – 2008
4- Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden (USA) – Sand Cat – 2010
5- El Paso Zoo (USA) – Sand Cat – 2010
6- Utah’s Hogle Zoo (USA) – Sand Cat – 2010
7- The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens (USA) – Sand Cat – 2011
8- Erie Zoo (USA) – Sand Cat – 2012
9- Rosamond Gifford Zoo at Burnet Park (USA) – Sand Cat – 2012
10- Feline Conservation Center (USA) – Sand Cat – 2017
11- Wuppertal Zoo (Germany) – Sand Cat – 2019
12- Osnabruck Zoo (Germany) – Sand Cat – 2019
13- Ree Park Safari (Denmark) – Sand Cat – 2022
14- Parken Zoo (Sweden) – Sand Cat – 2022
15- San Diego Zoo Safari Park (USA) – Sand Cat – 2023

Sand Cats are cute, inquisitive felines that easily blend into a sandstone backdrop due to their light-coloured hair. Here's a specimen in a rocky habitat:

@Lucas Lang

You can see a Sand Cat in this puny, cement-floored exhibit at Lincoln Park Zoo (USA). Photo date is 2010:

@geomorph

A typical small glass box for Sand Cats inside Cincinnati Zoo's (USA) Night Hunters building, which does turn the lights on at certain times each morning. There's almost zero natural substrate and later on I'll showcase exhibits that will make this one look very poor indeed.

@Moebelle

You can see a Sand Cat in my photo taken inside the Asian Forest Complex at El Paso Zoo (USA) in 2010:

Here's a litter of Sand Cats at Utah's Hogle Zoo (USA) in 2019:

@Arizona Docent

This is an outdoor exhibit for Sand Cats at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens (USA) and I took this photo in 2023 but first saw Sand Cats here in 2011.

A Sand Cat exhibit at Rosamond Gifford Zoo (USA) in 2015. All indoors, almost all cement and textured rock-work.

@CuseZoofan

Feline Conservation Center (USA), labeled as Exotic Feline Breeding Compound in the ZooChat gallery, had Sand Cats when I visited in 2017. Due to the small size of the exhibits so far, it's easy to understand why Sand Cats are hard to miss in many zoo enclosures. There's no space to hide!

@Coelacanth18

There's a Sand Cat high up on a branch (on the right) at Wuppertal Zoo (Germany) in an enclosure attached to the Feline House:

@FunkyGibbon

Just like at Osnabruck Zoo (Germany) and Wuppertal, and in fact most big European zoos, it is possible to view felines both indoors and outdoors. Here's the Sand Cat setup at Osnabruck:

Ree Park Safari (Denmark) had Sand Cats when I was there in 2022:

Where are the best zoo exhibits? Europe. Which part of that continent continues to provide an emphasis on outstanding mammal exhibits? Scandinavia.

Parken Zoo (Sweden) has the only open-topped Sand Cat exhibit that I've ever seen. The outdoor habitat must be a nightmare for keepers as it's got a LOT of glass that would need to be cleaned on a daily basis. But it's simply wonderful for visitors.

Parken has to have the largest Sand Cat exhibit of any zoo in the world:

The indoor area is larger than many other entire exhibits on my list...and there's actually sand instead of fake mock-rock!

Just look at those paw prints:

Parken Zoo's Desert House also has Meerkats inside and they have their separate area apart from the Sand Cats:

Desert House exterior:

San Diego Zoo Safari Park (USA) had a really nice Sand Cat exhibit when I was there last summer. It's not nearly on the level of Sweden's Parken Zoo, but it's good by North American standards and is located in the Nairobi Village zone.

@pachyderm pro

Lastly, there's a 16th zoo that held Sand Cats. Phoenix Zoo (USA) built a brand-new exhibit for the species a few years ago and it's in a really awkward location. There's an Education and Event Center that has a very narrow, smallish exhibit for Sand Cats attached to the rear area, practically off-show in many ways. I was able to get this photo of the enclosure, but I did not see any Sand Cats inside.

Felidae:

Tigers - 195 zoos
Lions - 179 zoos
Bobcats - 128 zoos
Cougars - 118 zoos
Leopards - 98 zoos
Cheetahs - 76 zoos
Snow Leopards - 74 zoos
Servals - 73 zoos
Jaguars - 63 zoos
Eurasian Lynx - 50 zoos
Ocelots - 49 zoos
Canada Lynx - 45 zoos
Clouded Leopards - 36 zoos
Caracals - 31 zoos
Pallas's Cats - 29 zoos
Fishing Cats - 25 zoos
Black-footed Cats - 16 zoos
Sand Cats - 15 zoos

 

[aardvark250]

Really sad to see both my favourite feline species having these poor exhibit! poor guys they're so cute. Really does seems like Scandinavian are the best place for feline to be in.

 

[15399]

A Sand Cat exhibit at Rosamond Gifford Zoo (USA) in 2015. All indoors, almost all cement and textured rock-work.

Interesting, I didn't know that Rosamond Gifford used to have sand cats. I'm pretty certain that's the exhibit which now houses fennec fox:

Photo by: @TinoPup

 

[NNM.]

I remember the Bronx Zoo’s old “World of Darkness” building had sand cats, as well as leopard cats. It was all indoors, of course, with the cats behind a glass window. It was an odd building.

 

[Laboratory 7]

I personally feel that the Black-footed Cat exhibits that I showcased in my post are generally very poor quality animal enclosures. The first three photos (Omaha, Birmingham, Hogle) show exhibits that are entirely indoors, with hardly any space for the cats to explore. I'm not even sure if any of those zoos still have the species, but seeing the exhibits in person revealed to me the tiny size of the environment for the Black-footed Cats and the animals were easy to locate as there weren't many hiding opportunities. I count 9 of the 16 exhibits as being all indoors 24/7, and it seems that several cat species (Bobcats, Black-footed Cats, Servals, etc.) quite often get the short end of the stick when it comes to modern zoo exhibits in North American zoos. I really wish that some European zoos had contained Black-footed Cats when I was overseas, as the general trend is for zoos in Europe to have higher quality habitats. Alas, I don't think this species is left on that continent but there are some Black-footed Cats in African zoos.

Black -footed cats require very specific conditions and tend to struggle when kept outside of those conditions, they're also very prone at least in Europe to developing kidney problems, I know that when Belfast kept them they were kept off show in a very warm and dry housing the dehumidifier was definitely working overtime,both times I saw them at Belfast the second time I saw them was shortly after they had bred them for the last time, before they got hit by the kidney problems. As for Europe having none give it chance you never know what might have arrived over here next time you possibly visit.

 

[amur leopard]

At this point I have to ask if there are any world class small cat (smaller than a lynx/serval) exhibits in US zoos? It’s odd how consistently small and all indoors they are. It might not be such a surprise seeing these sorts of exhibits in roadside establishments but many of these are big name zoos - Cincy, LPZ, San Antonio, Omaha, Brookfield...

 

[15399]

At this point I have to ask if there are any world class small cat (smaller than a lynx/serval) exhibits in US zoos? It’s odd how consistently small and all indoors they are. It might not be such a surprise seeing these sorts of exhibits in roadside establishments but many of these are big name zoos - Cincy, LPZ, San Antonio, Omaha, Brookfield...

The exhibits at Hawk Creek Wildlife Center are probably the best I've seen...for the animals. From a visitor perspective, they kind of suck though. Top photo is for sand cats, bottom one is for Geoffroy's cat:

I should note that there are only around fourteen holders of black-footed cats, and around seventeen holders of sand cats, however, so most zoos aren't keeping these smallest of cat species *at all*. I again also would argue that most of the photos that @snowleopard chose don't look like bad exhibits, even if none of the US ones come anywhere close to what Parken Zoo in Sweden provides (although the Parken Zoo exhibit does appear to lack in complexity compared to the better US exhibits).

 

[birdsandbats]

Bizarrely enough, when it comes to the very small cats, one of the best enclosures in the country was probably the Geoffroy's Cat enclosure at the notoriously awful (and now closed) Special Memories Zoo. It wasn't huge but it wasn't tiny either, and it had very dense vegetation for the cats to stay hidden in, as well as some hides. It wasn't a great exhibit, but it was a perfectly functional enclosure.

(photos by @Milwaukee Man and @snowleopard)

 

[amur leopard]

I should note that there are only around fourteen holders of black-footed cats, and around seventeen holders of sand cats, however, so most zoos aren't keeping these smallest of cat species *at all*. I again also would argue that most of the photos that @snowleopard chose don't look like bad exhibits, even if none of the US ones come anywhere close to what Parken Zoo in Sweden provides (although the Parken Zoo exhibit does appear to lack in complexity compared to the better US exhibits).

Perhaps, although you'd think that between 31 holdings (again, some of which are supposed to be world class zoos...) at least one would manage an enclosure that isn't all indoors and has adequate privacy. Maybe I'm looking at this from a warped perspective having seen a multitude of brilliant small cat exhibits but I think it's a real shame for the cats that they aren't afforded a bit more space. Looking forward to the upcoming small cat species in the hope that somewhere will buck that trend though!

As an aside, 'complexity' of an exhibit is almost entirely irrelevant in a Sand cat exhibit as long as it is large enough that the animals have privacy; they live in one of the most barren places on earth .

 

[15399]

As an aside, 'complexity' of an exhibit is almost entirely irrelevant in a Sand cat exhibit as long as it is large enough that the animals have privacy; they live in one of the most barren places on earth .

I would argue complexity is almost never "almost entirely irrelevant". Study after study, ranging in species from elephants to snakes, have shown that environmental enrichment and increased complexity in exhibit design leads to more positive welfare outcomes. On a quick search, this includes a paper on a black-footed cat: Managing repetitive locomotor behaviour and time spent off exhibit in a male black-footed cat (Felis nigripes) through exhibit and husbandry modifications | Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research, and on other desert species such as the fennec fox: https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/11561/Carlstead1991.pdf.

at least one would manage an enclosure that isn't all indoors and has adequate privacy.

And why is indoors bad for sand or black-footed cats? Adequate privacy is important- I agree with that (and many of the better ones in the country do provide this), however I see no reason why an outdoor sand cat exhibit is inherently better than one that is indoors, but still provides natural lighting and substrate. Given their small size and being a rather sensitive species, if anything sand and black-footed cats are the perfect kind of mammal to house in indoor exhibits.

 

[Kudu21]

There's a drop-off in numbers as I head down to the next feline on my list. I've seen Black-footed Cats at 16 zoos. It's interesting to note that every single one of these facilities is in the USA, with no sightings in Canadian, Australian or European zoos. This species used to be found in European collections, but it appears that there are zero left these days.

I know that Cincinnati Zoo (USA) has maintained the species over the years, but they weren't there when I toured that zoo in 2008. Also, when I visited Fossil Rim Wildlife Center (USA) in 2015, there were possibly some Black-footed Cats at that facility but they were behind the scenes and I did not see them. It's nice to see that Greensboro Science Center (USA) has Black-footed Cats in a new exhibit, but I've yet to visit that establishment.

Here's the 16 zoos, with almost all my sightings between 2008 and 2012:

1- Brookfield Zoo (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2008
2- Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2008
3- Oklahoma City Zoo (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2008
4- Kansas City Zoo (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2010
5- Milwaukee County Zoo (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2010
6- Cleveland Metroparks Zoo (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2010
7- Riverbanks Zoo & Garden (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2010
8- Birmingham Zoo (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2010
9- San Antonio Zoo (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2010
10- Utah’s Hogle Zoo (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2010
11- Santa Barbara Zoo (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2011
12- Fresno Chaffee Zoo (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2011
13- John Ball Zoo (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2012
14- San Diego Zoo Safari Park (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2017
15- Saginaw Children’s Zoo (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2018
16- The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2023

Black-footed Cats look a bit like typical house cats and unfortunately most of the zoo exhibits with this species have been terrible.

@Lucas Lang

Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium (USA) is often hailed by zoo nerds as one of the world's great zoos, but it's only fair to address its shortcomings as well. My 2012 photo shows a pitifully tiny exhibit for Black-footed Cats inside the Desert Dome building. This small cave has held a variety of species over the years, but it's very small and not appropriate for felines.

This narrow, tiny exhibit for Black-footed Cats at Birmingham Zoo (USA) in 2010 is probably smaller than the enclosure in Omaha. It's in the Predators building and it looks like an aquarium tank!

Here's yet another appallingly small exhibit for Black-footed Cats, this time at Utah's Hogle Zoo (USA) in 2010. There was no outdoor access for the felines.

Only slightly better is this mock-rock enclosure for Black-footed Cats at Brookfield Zoo (USA), as part of the Fragile Desert set of exhibits. This photo is from 2010:

@geomorph

A posing Black-footed Cat at Brookfield Zoo (USA):

@Larkspur

Yet another tiny exhibit, this time in the Cat Grotto area of San Antonio Zoo (USA) in 2010. This zone has a lot of textured, fake rock-work.

We all know that Black-footed Cats live in caves, right? There's not too much more to this exhibit than what is shown in my 2010 photo at Kansas City Zoo (USA):

Puny, small, tiny, all indoors. Black-footed Cat exhibit at John Ball Zoo (USA) in 2012:

Ditto for this all-indoors, mock-rock dominated Black-footed Cat exhibit at Riverbanks Zoo (USA) in 2010:

At least this enclosure is outdoors, but it's not very impressive and I can't remember if it even exists these days. It's at Fresno Chaffee Zoo (USA) and held Black-footed Cats in 2011.

Compared to the junk that I've shown you so far, Santa Barbara Zoo (USA) had a decent exhibit for Black-footed Cats when I visited that zoo in 2011. I think it's home to Meerkats now, judging by the current zoo map.

I saw a Black-footed Cat at San Diego Zoo Safari Park (USA) in a small, glass-fronted exhibit in 2017:

@twilighter

Saginaw Children’s Zoo (USA) had breeding Black-footed Cats in 2018:

Felidae:

Tigers - 195 zoos
Lions - 179 zoos
Bobcats - 128 zoos
Cougars - 118 zoos
Leopards - 98 zoos
Cheetahs - 76 zoos
Snow Leopards - 74 zoos
Servals - 73 zoos
Jaguars - 63 zoos
Eurasian Lynx - 50 zoos
Ocelots - 49 zoos
Canada Lynx - 45 zoos
Clouded Leopards - 36 zoos
Caracals - 31 zoos
Pallas's Cats - 29 zoos
Fishing Cats - 25 zoos
Black-footed Cats - 16 zoos

Since your visit in 2015, Fossil Rim has opened public black-footed cat exhibits in their Children's Animal Center at the park's walkabout "Overlook" area, and they are by and large some of the best genuine small cat exhibits I have seen. While they are just wood-and-wire-framed cages, they are very large for the size of the cats, outdoors, complexly furnished and well planted, all the while providing visitors opportunities to see the cats in strategically placed hides without denying them access to privacy.

 

[amur leopard]

I would argue complexity is almost never "almost entirely irrelevant". Study after study, ranging in species from elephants to snakes, have shown that environmental enrichment and increased complexity in exhibit design leads to more positive welfare outcomes. On a quick search, this includes a paper on a black-footed cat: Managing repetitive locomotor behaviour and time spent off exhibit in a male black-footed cat (Felis nigripes) through exhibit and husbandry modifications | Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research, and on other desert species such as the fennec fox: https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/11561/Carlstead1991.pdf.

Both studies conducted on tiny, all indoor exhibits. Not saying it isn't necessarily relevant to the discussion, but, especially in a context where Parken's exhibit isn't any less complex than the American exhibits shown above but is at least an order of magnitude larger than almost all of them it isn't really a discussion on which one is better for the animals.

And why is indoors bad for sand or black-footed cats? Adequate privacy is important- I agree with that (and many of the better ones in the country do provide this), however I see no reason why an outdoor sand cat exhibit is inherently better than one that is indoors, but still provides natural lighting and substrate. Given their small size and being a rather sensitive species, if anything sand and black-footed cats are the perfect kind of mammal to house in indoor exhibits.

Granted all-indoor exhibits aren't inherently a bad thing but when they de facto highly restrict the cat moving around in a non-stereotypical way (and relies entirely on artificial lighting) as several of those above do, it should raise eyebrows. In most cases these aren't zoos starved of money - many of these are zoos that spend tens of millions on new, expansive developments regularly.

I'm not having a go at American zoos here - in many respects they outstrip their European counterparts - but I'm just genuinely intrigued why space is at such a premium for their small cats.

Probably best to curb this conversation here or hereabouts, at least until the small cats posts are rounded off. I'm sure we fundamentally agree on these matters, but have differing perspectives in this case due to fluctuating benchmarks of what is commonplace and what isn't in different parts of the world .

 

[Panda_Fan]

Seeing the sand-cat habitats with the majority of them (primarily the US zoo) with the lack of sand was quite a shock. This animal has "sand" in his name and yet there's not a grain of sand in those exhibits!

 

[snowleopard]

When it comes to 'Wildcats', there's certainly a lot of subspecies (depending on which website you visit) and yet All the Mammals of the World (2023) lists two clear species: African and European. Nevertheless, going through the ZooChat gallery, I have also seen signs for Eurasian, Arabian, Asiatic, Scottish or just plain old 'Wildcat'. In this case, 11 of the 15 zoos are found in Europe as 'Wildcats' are very rare in captivity in North American collections and almost all my sightings were during one month in 2019.

* I will edit my post, if necessary, once a couple of zoo nerds chime in with taxonomic comments

1- Alberta Game Farm/Polar Park (Canada) – European Wildcat – 1975
2- Langenberg Wildlife Park (Switzerland) – European Wildcat – 2003
3- Mountain View Conservation Centre (Canada) – Asiatic Wildcat – 2008
4- Utah’s Hogle Zoo (USA) – Arabian Wildcat – 2010
5- Great Cats World Park (USA) – African Wildcat – 2015 (including a black specimen)
6- Wildpark Gangelt (Germany) – European Wildcat – 2019
7- Opel Zoo (Germany) – European Wildcat – 2019
8- Zoo Neuwied (Germany) – European Wildcat – 2019
9- Wildpark Reuschenberg (Germany) – European Wildcat – 2019
10- Solinger Vogel-und Tierpark (Bird and Animal Park) (Germany) – European Wildcat – 2019
11- Wuppertal Zoo (Germany) – Arabian Wildcat – 2019
12- Duisburg Zoo (Germany) – European Wildcat – 2019
13- Berlin Tierpark (Germany) – European Wildcat – 2019
14- Nordhorn Zoo (Germany) – European Wildcat – 2019
15- Nordens Ark (Sweden) – Scottish Wildcat – 2022

Utah’s Hogle Zoo (USA) had what was listed as an Arabian Wildcat inside its Small Animal Building when I was there in 2010. The enclosure was tiny, entirely indoors and not very impressive. Here's an image, at Hogle Zoo, of an 'Arabian' Wildcat from 2011:

@fkalltheway

Great Cats World Park (USA) had some small chain-link cages for African Wildcats when I was there in 2015. Just like the Jaguars at this park, the cats were fed after they scaled the fencing but at least in this case there was a metal roof preventing any potential escapes. At the time, Great Cats had 4 African Wildcats and they received all of them from the Audubon Species Survival Center in Louisiana. The melanistic specimen was likely the only one of its kind in captivity in the world, and at least one of the 'normal' coloured specimens was a clone. It's just too bad that the exhibits are so junky. Once an individual heads off to see some European zoos, then all-indoor glass tanks like the one at Cincinnati Zoo or these puny outdoor enclosures below reveal themselves to be abysmal zoo exhibits. Cincy is all about artificial mock-rock and unyielding cement and it's a garbage enclosure for small cats. These below are outdoors but perhaps even worse!

Here's a European Wildcat at Wildpark Gangelt (Germany), a terrific German zoo that showcases native wildlife:

@16217

Zoo Neuwied (Germany) has three exhibits that are all connected into ONE big enclosure for European Wildcats. When I was there in 2019, I saw open doors between all three of these cages, in much the same way this zoo had its setup for Pallas's Cats. Taken alone, it would be a poor example of a zoo exhibit, but three combined, varied spaces elevates the quality tremendously.

Wildpark Reuschenberg (Germany) has a pair of cages that are also combined into one space for its European Wildcats. If you zoom in, you can marvel at the old-fashioned sign with its hand-drawn images of Wildcats. You don't often see those kind of zoo labels these days.

This specimen, at Wuppertal Zoo (Germany), is listed as an Arabian Wildcat on ZooChat:

@Fat-tailed dwarf lemur

Another name, now mainly out of use, is 'Gordon's Wildcat':

@Joker1706

Duisburg Zoo (Germany) has a spacious exhibit for European Wildcats:

@gulogulogulo

My 2019 photo was taken from inside a log cabin themed viewing area:

Here's the classic Berlin Tierpark (Germany) green fencing, almost iconic now amongst zoo nerds, at this European Wildcat exhibit:

We keep ending up in Scandinavia and specifically at Nordens Ark (Sweden) because it's a cat specialist facility with many of its exhibits being up there amidst the best of their kind in the world. When I toured this zoo with @twilighter in 2022 we saw two exhibits with the signs saying 'Scottish' Wildcat. Even with Wildcats, those darn Swedes yet again pull off a phenomenal pair of spacious, natural-looking habitats.

Felidae:

Tigers - 195 zoos
Lions - 179 zoos
Bobcats - 128 zoos
Cougars - 118 zoos
Leopards - 98 zoos
Cheetahs - 76 zoos
Snow Leopards - 74 zoos
Servals - 73 zoos
Jaguars - 63 zoos
Eurasian Lynx - 50 zoos
Ocelots - 49 zoos
Canada Lynx - 45 zoos
Clouded Leopards - 36 zoos
Caracals - 31 zoos
Pallas's Cats - 29 zoos
Fishing Cats - 25 zoos
Black-footed Cats - 16 zoos
Sand Cats - 15 zoos
'Wildcats' - 15 zoos (2 species: African, European)

 

[Lafone]

When it comes to 'Wildcats', there's certainly a lot of subspecies (depending on which website you visit) and yet All the Mammals of the World (2023) lists two clear species: African and European. Nevertheless, going through the ZooChat gallery, I have also seen signs for Eurasian, Arabian, Asiatic, Scottish or just plain old 'Wildcat'. In this case, 11 of the 15 zoos are found in Europe as 'Wildcats' are very rare in captivity in North American collections and almost all my sightings were during one month in 2019.

* I will edit my post, if necessary, once a couple of zoo nerds chime in with taxonomic comments

1- Alberta Game Farm/Polar Park (Canada) – European Wildcat – 1975
2- Langenberg Wildlife Park (Switzerland) – European Wildcat – 2003
3- Mountain View Conservation Centre (Canada) – Asiatic Wildcat – 2008
4- Utah’s Hogle Zoo (USA) – Arabian Wildcat – 2010
5- Great Cats World Park (USA) – African Wildcat – 2015 (including a black specimen)
6- Wildpark Gangelt (Germany) – European Wildcat – 2019
7- Opel Zoo (Germany) – European Wildcat – 2019
8- Zoo Neuwied (Germany) – European Wildcat – 2019
9- Wildpark Reuschenberg (Germany) – European Wildcat – 2019
10- Solinger Vogel-und Tierpark (Bird and Animal Park) (Germany) – European Wildcat – 2019
11- Wuppertal Zoo (Germany) – Arabian Wildcat – 2019
12- Duisburg Zoo (Germany) – European Wildcat – 2019
13- Berlin Tierpark (Germany) – European Wildcat – 2019
14- Nordhorn Zoo (Germany) – European Wildcat – 2019
15- Nordens Ark (Sweden) – Scottish Wildcat – 2022

Utah’s Hogle Zoo (USA) had what was listed as an Arabian Wildcat inside its Small Animal Building when I was there in 2010. The enclosure was tiny, entirely indoors and not very impressive. Here's an image, at Hogle Zoo, of an 'Arabian' Wildcat from 2011:

@fkalltheway

Great Cats World Park (USA) had some small chain-link cages for African Wildcats when I was there in 2015. Just like the Jaguars at this park, the cats were fed after they scaled the fencing but at least in this case there was a metal roof preventing any potential escapes. At the time, Great Cats had 4 African Wildcats and they received all of them from the Audubon Species Survival Center in Louisiana. The melanistic specimen was likely the only one of its kind in captivity in the world, and at least one of the 'normal' coloured specimens was a clone. It's just too bad that the exhibits are so junky. Once an individual heads off to see some European zoos, then all-indoor glass tanks like the one at Cincinnati Zoo or these puny outdoor enclosures below reveal themselves to be abysmal zoo exhibits. Cincy is all about artificial mock-rock and unyielding cement and it's a garbage enclosure for small cats. These below are outdoors but perhaps even worse!

Here's a European Wildcat at Wildpark Gangelt (Germany), a terrific German zoo that showcases native wildlife:

@16217

Zoo Neuwied (Germany) has three exhibits that are all connected into ONE big enclosure for European Wildcats. When I was there in 2019, I saw open doors between all three of these cages, in much the same way this zoo had its setup for Pallas's Cats. Taken alone, it would be a poor example of a zoo exhibit, but three combined, varied spaces elevates the quality tremendously.

Wildpark Reuschenberg (Germany) has a pair of cages that are also combined into one space for its European Wildcats. If you zoom in, you can marvel at the old-fashioned sign with its hand-drawn images of Wildcats. You don't often see those kind of zoo labels these days.

This specimen, at Wuppertal Zoo (Germany), is listed as an Arabian Wildcat on ZooChat:

@Fat-tailed dwarf lemur

Another name, now mainly out of use, is 'Gordon's Wildcat':

@Joker1706

Duisburg Zoo (Germany) has a spacious exhibit for European Wildcats:

@gulogulogulo

My 2019 photo was taken from inside a log cabin themed viewing area:

Here's the classic Berlin Tierpark (Germany) green fencing, almost iconic now amongst zoo nerds, at this European Wildcat exhibit:

We keep ending up in Scandinavia and specifically at Nordens Ark (Sweden) because it's a cat specialist facility with many of its exhibits being up there amidst the best of their kind in the world. When I toured this zoo with @twilighter in 2022 we saw two exhibits with the signs saying 'Scottish' Wildcat. Even with Wildcats, those darn Swedes yet again pull off a phenomenal pair of spacious, natural-looking habitats.

Felidae:

Tigers - 195 zoos
Lions - 179 zoos
Bobcats - 128 zoos
Cougars - 118 zoos
Leopards - 98 zoos
Cheetahs - 76 zoos
Snow Leopards - 74 zoos
Servals - 73 zoos
Jaguars - 63 zoos
Eurasian Lynx - 50 zoos
Ocelots - 49 zoos
Canada Lynx - 45 zoos
Clouded Leopards - 36 zoos
Caracals - 31 zoos
Pallas's Cats - 29 zoos
Fishing Cats - 25 zoos
Black-footed Cats - 16 zoos
Sand Cats - 15 zoos
'Wildcats' - 15 zoos (2 species: African, European)

Not nerdy enough to warrant a comment edit, but Scottish wildcats are a sub population of the European wildcat.

There's a great site about them here which covers the challenges faced by the cats and the efforts to breed and release.

Saving Wildcats | Scottish wildcat conservation and recovery

Royal Zoological Society Scotland oversee the Scottish Wildcat programme from the Highland wildlife park and cats which have been tested for genetic purity are paired and bred in various zoos and centres, on and off show across the UK and in Sweden.

It's a wonderful example of zoos actively contributing to conservation and it is also pretty amazing to go and visit kittens born in captivity who end up on wild release (in my opinion!).

The members of the conservation programme are shown at this link and Nordens as you mentioned are indeed active members with off show as well as on show breeding.

UK conservation breeding programme for wildcats

 

[FrederickA]

There's a drop-off in numbers as I head down to the next feline on my list. I've seen Black-footed Cats at 16 zoos. It's interesting to note that every single one of these facilities is in the USA, with no sightings in Canadian, Australian or European zoos. This species used to be found in European collections, but it appears that there are zero left these days.

I know that Cincinnati Zoo (USA) has maintained the species over the years, but they weren't there when I toured that zoo in 2008. Also, when I visited Fossil Rim Wildlife Center (USA) in 2015, there were possibly some Black-footed Cats at that facility but they were behind the scenes and I did not see them. It's nice to see that Greensboro Science Center (USA) has Black-footed Cats in a new exhibit, but I've yet to visit that establishment.

Here's the 16 zoos, with almost all my sightings between 2008 and 2012:

1- Brookfield Zoo (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2008
2- Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2008
3- Oklahoma City Zoo (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2008
4- Kansas City Zoo (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2010
5- Milwaukee County Zoo (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2010
6- Cleveland Metroparks Zoo (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2010
7- Riverbanks Zoo & Garden (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2010
8- Birmingham Zoo (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2010
9- San Antonio Zoo (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2010
10- Utah’s Hogle Zoo (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2010
11- Santa Barbara Zoo (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2011
12- Fresno Chaffee Zoo (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2011
13- John Ball Zoo (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2012
14- San Diego Zoo Safari Park (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2017
15- Saginaw Children’s Zoo (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2018
16- The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens (USA) – Black-footed Cat – 2023

Black-footed Cats look a bit like typical house cats and unfortunately most of the zoo exhibits with this species have been terrible.

@Lucas Lang

Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium (USA) is often hailed by zoo nerds as one of the world's great zoos, but it's only fair to address its shortcomings as well. My 2012 photo shows a pitifully tiny exhibit for Black-footed Cats inside the Desert Dome building. This small cave has held a variety of species over the years, but it's very small and not appropriate for felines.

This narrow, tiny exhibit for Black-footed Cats at Birmingham Zoo (USA) in 2010 is probably smaller than the enclosure in Omaha. It's in the Predators building and it looks like an aquarium tank!

Here's yet another appallingly small exhibit for Black-footed Cats, this time at Utah's Hogle Zoo (USA) in 2010. There was no outdoor access for the felines.

Only slightly better is this mock-rock enclosure for Black-footed Cats at Brookfield Zoo (USA), as part of the Fragile Desert set of exhibits. This photo is from 2010:

@geomorph

A posing Black-footed Cat at Brookfield Zoo (USA):

@Larkspur

Yet another tiny exhibit, this time in the Cat Grotto area of San Antonio Zoo (USA) in 2010. This zone has a lot of textured, fake rock-work.

We all know that Black-footed Cats live in caves, right? There's not too much more to this exhibit than what is shown in my 2010 photo at Kansas City Zoo (USA):

Puny, small, tiny, all indoors. Black-footed Cat exhibit at John Ball Zoo (USA) in 2012:

Ditto for this all-indoors, mock-rock dominated Black-footed Cat exhibit at Riverbanks Zoo (USA) in 2010:

At least this enclosure is outdoors, but it's not very impressive and I can't remember if it even exists these days. It's at Fresno Chaffee Zoo (USA) and held Black-footed Cats in 2011.

Compared to the junk that I've shown you so far, Santa Barbara Zoo (USA) had a decent exhibit for Black-footed Cats when I visited that zoo in 2011. I think it's home to Meerkats now, judging by the current zoo map.

I saw a Black-footed Cat at San Diego Zoo Safari Park (USA) in a small, glass-fronted exhibit in 2017:

@twilighter

Saginaw Children’s Zoo (USA) had breeding Black-footed Cats in 2018:

Felidae:

Tigers - 195 zoos
Lions - 179 zoos
Bobcats - 128 zoos
Cougars - 118 zoos
Leopards - 98 zoos
Cheetahs - 76 zoos
Snow Leopards - 74 zoos
Servals - 73 zoos
Jaguars - 63 zoos
Eurasian Lynx - 50 zoos
Ocelots - 49 zoos
Canada Lynx - 45 zoos
Clouded Leopards - 36 zoos
Caracals - 31 zoos
Pallas's Cats - 29 zoos
Fishing Cats - 25 zoos
Black-footed Cats - 16 zoos

For Fresno the Black-Footed cat's exhibit is where the sloth bear's river is now. I also envy that you got to see it in person as I can't recall ever seeing it in person.

 

[snowleopard]

The next species on my Felidae list is Geoffroy's Cat and I've seen this feline at 8 zoos. This has obviously been an extremely rare species for me to locate in captivity.

One of my visits was at Mountain View, which is now closed and at the time required a guided tour to be booked. Special Memories is also closed. Great Cats and Feline Conservation Center are both cat specialist zoos. That leaves only 4 'regular' zoos with the species and therefore I've always cherished seeing Geoffroy's Cats as I knew that I might never have another opportunity. That being said, there's around 50 zoos in the world with these felines (according to Zootierliste). Where can one see these guys? Germany has at least a dozen holders.

1- Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden (USA) – Geoffroy’s Cat – 2008
2- Mountain View Conservation Centre (Canada) - Geoffroy's Cat – 2008
3- Frank Buck Zoo (USA) - Geoffroy's Cat – 2015
4- Great Cats World Park (USA) - Geoffroy's Cat – 2015
5- Feline Conservation Center (USA) - Geoffroy's Cat – 2017
6- Special Memories Zoo (USA) - Geoffroy's Cat – 2018
7- Opel Zoo (Germany) - Geoffroy's Cat – 2019
8- Dierenpark Amersfoort (Netherlands) – Geoffroy’s Cat – 2019

@robreintjes

The first two zoos on my list don't have any photos of this species in the gallery, but there are a few images of Geoffroy's Cats at Frank Buck Zoo (USA) in Texas. One thing to note is that there is a large 'hamster wheel' device screwed into the side of this cage and I've seen something similar for Fossas at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo (USA). Maybe the Geoffroy's Cats here can work on shedding some ounces?

The zoo still had at least one Geoffroy's Cat as of December 2022:

@MGolka

Great Cats World Park (USA) had a Geoffroy's Cat when I had an hour-long guided tour (which is a requirement) in 2015. The specimen was kept in a tiny chain-link cage:

And could easily be seen when it was feeding time. Again, here's an example of a small cat being able to scale fencing with ease.

On an absolutely baking hot day, off in the desert, I visited Feline Conservation Center (USA), called Exotic Feline Breeding Compound in the gallery, and I was just about the only visitor to this cat specialist park. Here's another small chain-link cage for Geoffroy's Cats and I remember it coming out of its little green box (bottom right-hand corner) and pacing a bit.

It's rare indeed that I would go out of my way to praise the awful, and now closed, Special Memories Zoo (USA) in Wisconsin, but the Geoffroy's Cat exhibits there are nicely planted and I had to return to this exhibit to see a cat. These two enclosures are nothing fancy, and functional in design, but better than anything else so far!

Opel Zoo (Germany) is one of only two zoos out of 120 where I've seen Geoffroy's Cats in Europe. This enclosure looks as if it could have been taken from Berlin Tierpark, with its classic green painted metal.

@Maguari

The best exhibit I've seen for Geoffroy's Cats would have to be at Dierenpark Amersfoort (Netherlands) in 2019. Sorry North American zoos, but Europe "wins" in quality for the umpteenth time. There are two exhibits for one small cat species at this Dutch zoo.

Both photos by @KevinB

@vogelcommando

I visited the superb Cologne Zoo (Germany) in 2019, but the South America House was under construction and therefore I didn't get to view the Geoffroy's Cats at that time. Here's what their exhibit looked like in October 2021:

@twilighter

Geoffroy's Cats are part of a long list of small South American felines and even though they look large in photos, in real life they are tiny little carnivores.

@Giant Eland

Felidae:

Tigers - 195 zoos
Lions - 179 zoos
Bobcats - 128 zoos
Cougars - 118 zoos
Leopards - 98 zoos
Cheetahs - 76 zoos
Snow Leopards - 74 zoos
Servals - 73 zoos
Jaguars - 63 zoos
Eurasian Lynx - 50 zoos
Ocelots - 49 zoos
Canada Lynx - 45 zoos
Clouded Leopards - 36 zoos
Caracals - 31 zoos
Pallas's Cats - 29 zoos
Fishing Cats - 25 zoos
Black-footed Cats - 16 zoos
Sand Cats - 15 zoos
'Wildcats' - 15 zoos (2 species: African, European)
Geoffroy's Cats - 8 zoos

 

[KevinB]

Sadly Amersfoort no longer keeps Geoffroy's cats, with the last individuals leaving or dying in 2020, and the exhibits are either not there anymore or used off-show.

 

[snowleopard]

Sadly Amersfoort no longer keeps Geoffroy's cats, with the last individuals leaving or dying in 2020, and the exhibits are either not there anymore or used off-show.

That's too bad! I'm glad that I saw them when I did. Of the 8 zoos with Geoffroy's Cats on my list, 3 of them have permanently closed down, 3 of them no longer have the species, and that leaves only Frank Buck and Opel left.