The line-up in 1976 was as follows: lions, servals and tigers in the same enclosures as today.
Northern lynx were kept where the Sulawesi macaques are now - they would soon be replaced by caracals.
Jaguars were kept where the spider monkeys are to be found.
Cheetahs were kept where the langurs are now.
Leopards were in the enclosure where until recently the red river hogs were.
This was the line-up until 1987 (although for a while a female puma bred through AI shared the serval enclosure on a rotational basis).
At that point, clouded leopards were acquired and replaced the cheetahs. The caracals also moved into the serval enclosure (the latter species leaving the collection) and ocelots were installed into the vacated caracal exhibit.
These would be the species exhibited until the closure crisis in 1991, by which time pedigree Sumatran tigers, Asiatic lions (the first on show of the present EEP stock) and Persian leopards were representing their species.
I will try to recall subsequent stock changes if you like, although they're more complex!
Thank you, that's very interesting. Especially interesting to hear about cheetah, it seems unbelievable that cheetahs were kept there and in that enclosure, especially compared with their husbandry by the same organisation at Whipsnade.
I have to say that the area does feel like a bit of mish-mash these days.
That's a very interesting line up of species, although some of the enclosures may not be perfectly suited for big cats not, some other species, such as clouded leopards + smaller cats could really be maintained there instead of the monkeys (maybe even if they combined or opened up some of the enclosures even leopard could be maintained?)
