Lovely tall climbing frame and always nice to see an open-topped leopard exhibit, but its rather barren - hopefully the planted conifers will take hold quickly and provide a bit more cover.
Really? I agree they should have a little more plantation and foliage however as open top Leopard exhibits are nowadays rare in the UK I feel YWP have done well and gone for something different rather than the typical netted enclosures.
Not sure what the advantages of an open-topped enclosure over a roofed one are for this species, while I am always a bit concerned about the safety issues too- they are expert climbers!
The leopards really make use of the climbing frame - that seems money well spent (you can see a cat basking on the right-most platform). I think I'm correct in saying there is only one other open-topped enclosure for P. pardus in the UK (for Sri Lankan Leopards at Banham), but I'm now waiting to be put right on that!
Unless they added a roof to the enclosure when adapting it for the leopards, the new North Chinese Leopard enclosure at Howlett's will also be open-topped - it was when I saw it in January, whilst it was empty.
Well I will be seeing this very soon so I will give an update on whether the foliage/plantation has grown since this photo was taken.
Leopards are very expert climbers however the only place I've ever seen Leopards is at West Mid's about four years ago and Edinburgh last year. Both were open top, YWP's enclosure is fantastic.
We recently made our first visit to YWP on our way down from our Scotland holiday!
Out of all the positive things we had to say about YWP we found this enclosure the most puzzling design wise. Don't get me wrong the size and viewing is very impressive BUT they are currently holding 3 males which now they are older only 1 is in the large enclosure on its own which means there is 1 in the smaller side enclosure and I assume 1 in the indoor area?
We did visit several times during our time there and only saw 1 asleep right at the top and a 2nd one pacing in the smaller enclosure.
I assume the long tern plan is to have a breeding pair, why did they not split the size of the large enclosure into 2 very large enclosures with shared viewing from the tower?
I don't in any way claim to know what I am talking about when it comes to design and the keeping of amur leopards but if they are only ever 'together' for breeding 1 of the amurs will always be in the much smaller enclosure with not very good viewing?
Overall it was a very enjoyable visiting experience and can't wait to see what they do next
comes to design and the keeping of amur leopards but if they are only ever 'together' for breeding 1 of the amurs will always be in the much smaller enclosure with not very good viewing?
Presumably these males, which can't be kept together, will be exchanged so that they have a male/female pair or even trio. They could then be kept together unless the female had cubs(and possibly even then in a very large enclosure) Two smaller enclosures might have been more workable exhibitionwise though.
My chief criticism of this enclosure is still its huge size and open-ness for probably only one or two cats. Some people have suggested it will look less bare and more naturalistic with time as vegatation grows up but I think that will just make the animals even harder to see.
Presumably these males, which can't be kept together, will be exchanged so that they have a male/female pair or even trio. They could then be kept together unless the female had cubs(and possibly even then in a very large enclosure) Two smaller enclosures might have been more workable exhibitionwise though.
My chief criticism of this enclosure is still its huge size and open-ness for probably only one or two cats. Some people have suggested it will look less bare and more naturalistic with time as vegatation grows up but I think that will just make the animals even harder to see.
I have to say that I agree with you, Pertinax. To me this just looks like an enclosure with a lot of dead space. It may be cheaper to give arboreal animals roofless exhibits but built like this it's hard to see many other advatages.
Its still my least favourite enclosure of all the photos I have seen here(YWP). I feel they went at it the wrong way with the open-topped approach for this species. A covered enclosure in a wooded area would have been far more suitable IMO. The original little shrubs seem to have been replaced by the slightly bigger pines, but overall it doesn't change my views of it.
We recently made our first visit to YWP on our way down from our Scotland holiday!
Out of all the positive things we had to say about YWP we found this enclosure the most puzzling design wise. Don't get me wrong the size and viewing is very impressive BUT they are currently holding 3 males which now they are older only 1 is in the large enclosure on its own which means there is 1 in the smaller side enclosure and I assume 1 in the indoor area?
We did visit several times during our time there and only saw 1 asleep right at the top and a 2nd one pacing in the smaller enclosure.
I assume the long tern plan is to have a breeding pair, why did they not split the size of the large enclosure into 2 very large enclosures with shared viewing from the tower?
I don't in any way claim to know what I am talking about when it comes to design and the keeping of amur leopards but if they are only ever 'together' for breeding 1 of the amurs will always be in the much smaller enclosure with not very good viewing?
Overall it was a very enjoyable visiting experience and can't wait to see what they do next
Y.W.P. have now secured a female leopard to mate with Drake,one of the 3 males. The other 2 males (Denzel and Dimitri) will be leaving soon for pastures new. The 2 smaller enclosures at the rear (furthest away from the viewing platform) can be made into 1 without too much difficulty,there is already a sliding door between them, so I assume that she will be going in there and probably have rotated access as the 3 males do now. If the 2 enclosure are joined it will probably be larger than the majority or leopard exhibits.They have also allowed closer viewing since the original thread was started and you can now view from 4 or 5 feet from the enclosure fencing.(Not very good for photos as opposed to the viewing platform which is fantastic for photography) The trees and grass has grown a lot from the first photo in this post,but I went 2 days ago and took some current photos and will be posting them tonight I hope. I cant wait for the tiny footsteps of Amur Leopard cubs in Yorkshire.
