You'd have to ask zoogiraffe, as he's the person I originally heard the story from if memory serves, they were only identified as generic lynx originally, and when they were correctly identified Riber couldn't find anywhere else in the UK interested in working with them, so sent them back to Spain. I believe the individuals in question later went to Pont-Scorff in France.
At least I got there to get good shots of Indian wildcat (aka desert cat) as it seems these are now gone as well and likely impossible to find in western zoos.
The one I am particularly glad to have seen is Black-footed Cat; saw them in the nick of time, as the last few individuals died within 12 months or so of my visit.
You'd have to ask zoogiraffe, as he's the person I originally heard the story from if memory serves, they were only identified as generic lynx originally, and when they were correctly identified Riber couldn't find anywhere else in the UK interested in working with them, so sent them back to Spain. I believe the individuals in question later went to Pont-Scorff in France.
Just seems odd - in the late eighties Riber was all about 'look how many types of lynx we've got' - it doesn't ring true to me that they'd send an extra species/subspecies away if the animals clearly weren't wanted in Spain. Impure individuals, maybe?
The one I am particularly glad to have seen is Black-footed Cat; saw them in the nick of time, as the last few individuals died within 12 months or so of my visit.
Yes I saw black footed cat at Port Lympne as well. However, the small fencing set far back from railing made good photos impossible. Thankfully I was able to get my good shots at USA zoos.
So far as I recall the first 'melanistic' Jungle Cat in recent times was received by Rotterdam from the wild (I was told simply 'India') - and was paired to a captive sourced, so completely unrelated, 'normal' female - the pair producing a number of litters of both normal and black kittens. A sibling pair of blacks from the same litter was received at Hamerton, where they bred twice but never went on display to the public. The first litter was 2 normal and 2 black kittens, and the second litter 3 blacks. All were reared perfectly by their parents indoors in our old quarantine unit. The breeding pair was then moved to a large planted outdoor enclosure, and never bred again.
It can be seen from the ratio of kittens, that the 'melanistic' colour does not inherit as a true Mendelian recessive.
One black kitten from the first litter went to Howletts (in exchange for a pair of Indian Desert Cats), but as no other UK zoo was interested, the remaining 6 kittens were exported via Ravensden.
I should have the date of arrival for the Blijdorp pair on file, plus a number of (Rod Williams) slides...
edit, added after the AD post below - I will certainly check the dates, but would guess ours bred around 1990, as after breeding twice the pair was re-housed in an enclosure previously housing a hybrid pair of Ruffed Lemurs which went to Kilverstone Country Park, after Kilverstone Wildlife Park closed - which means the Jungle Cat breedings here were the last two/three years KWP was open. Sorry to be so crytic, but I am nowhere near our office!
The first time I saw black jungle cats was at a private breeder in Florida (who also bred servals as well as rescuing native wildlife). There was an adult male whom I photographed up close sitting on a shelf in his cage. Then I photographed a black female he had been mated to with her kitten that was only about two weeks old (maybe less) inside the owner's house. The mother promptly jumped away to explore the rest of the house and I was left with the kitten on the couch. This was many years ago (circa 2000) and I don't know if there are still jungle cats in the private sector. I believe the breeder I visited now only does native wildlife rescue and rehab.
