Sand Cat Outdoor Enclosure

27th March 2016
Outside the lion house

What an unusual enclosure for sand cats. Seems to have a lot of unused height, was this originally an aviary for birds?

I may be wrong, but I think the lion house (which this is on the outside of) is fairly new and this enclosure was originally designed for Sand Cats. It also directly connects to the indoor enclosures as shown in this picture: http://www.zoochat.com/950/sand-cat-indoor-enclosure-lion-house-443253/ (there are two enclosures that size that can be separated)

Would the Sand Cats not go up that slope, or on the branches at all?
I didn't think it was too steep so this picture possibly makes it seem steeper than it is. There is also a small ledge on the top of the slope sort-of visible from this picture: http://www.zoochat.com/950/sand-cat-outdoor-enclosure-443259/

Ahh this must be for the extremely rare flying sand cat the architect had a dream about

Better safe than sorry, you never know when a cat might suddenly evolve wings!

(yes, the mesh all the way over the top did seem a little unnecessary, but the shape does add to the general architectural appeal of the lion house)

Thanks for the explanation LD! Had somehow missed your photo of the inside dens attached to this enclosure. To me though it still looks like there should be a bird or something in here, the roof is just so high, enclosing a lot of empty air, for such a small and terrestrial species as a sand cat

Are the black circle/square things lights?

Unusual design indeed. Those round domes appear to be skylights for the indoor enclosures. (I am basing this on the linked photo showing the inside).

Yes, I believe those circular things are skylights for the indoor enclosures.
The other picture of the outdoor enclosure (linked above) also shows the tunnels from inside to outside.
The enclosure did seem quite large overall though, especially since I believe there is only one cat (though there could have been more hiding somewhere I suppose).

This enclosure (as well as whole lion house) is quite new. It was opened to the public in october 2014. I really don’t know why is planned so high enclosure for sand cats. Maybe they want to have enclosure ready for another cat species in the future?