Best small cat exhibits

[Arizona Docent]

Someone asked on another thread if there are any good small cat exhibits. Instead of derailing that thread I decided to start a new one. I am only familiar with USA and a few zoos in Europe so I invite comments from around the globe to help expand our understanding. There is always a debate about whether clouded leopard is a small cat or big cat. For the purposes of this thread I am NOT counting it as a small cat, though if you want to then feel free to include it.

 

[Arizona Docent]

The one exhibit mentioned in the other thread is caracal at Oregon Zoo. I admit it is quite nice but sadly it no longer holds caracals (as reported on ZooChat). Here are some nice exhibits I have seen in no particular order. (Please note the zoos mentioned may have other small cats, but I only reference the cats that have nice exhibits).
Utah's Hogle Zoo: Pallas' cat
Le Parc Des Felins: too many to list (if you like cats just go there)
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum: bobcat
Northwest Trek: bobcat, Canadian lynx
Langenberg Wildlife Park: European wildcat
Memphis Zoo: fishing cat or ocelot (whatever is currently in that exhibit)

 

[birdsandbats]

NEW Zoo has a very good Bobcat exhibit.

 

[snowleopard]

I entered the words 'Bobcat Exhibit' in the ZooChat search gallery, as well as specifically only looking at photos that I have personally uploaded, and an absolute mountain of atrocious bobcat exhibits were there for me to glance through. It is astonishing at how many American zoos have terrible Bobcat enclosures. However, I did find 7 very good Bobcat exhibits.

This beauty is to be found at Wildlife Prairie Park in Illinois:

Here is another decent Bobcat exhibit at Dakota Zoo in North Dakota:

A smallish but still good Bobcat exhibit (opened in 2012) at Cosley Zoo in Illinois:

A superb Bobcat exhibit at Northwest Trek Wildlife Park in Washington:

Bobcat exhibit at Living Desert Zoo in California:

Bobcat exhibit at Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (although a bit small):

Bobcat exhibit at California Living Museum in California:

 

[ZooBinh]

Dortmund's Lynx Exhibit
European Lynx enclosure at Dortmund 11/05/2009 - ZooChat

A stunner.

 

[Luke da Zoo nerd]

One that really comes to mind is the Manuls exhibit at Hogle. I have not been their personally, but I have heard really good things and saw many good pictures from other relatives that have visited there.

 

[snowleopard]

While looking through the ZooChat gallery for exhibits containing Pallas's Cats, I saw many of my photos from years of zoo trips across North America. I have seen that species in tiny, corn-crib metal cages at establishments like Topeka Zoo, Dakota Zoo and Potter Park Zoo (ghastly little cages at all 3 of those zoos). I've seen very tiny Pallas's Cat exhibits at places like Great Plains Zoo, Lake Superior Zoo, Feline Conservation Center, Miller Park Zoo, Tanganyika Wildlife Park, Cleveland Zoo, Birmingham Zoo and Pueblo Zoo. In fact, it's difficult to find a few good exhibits for that species!

Utah's Hogle Zoo:

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado:

Lille Zoo in France (the exhibit is quite well-furnished):

 

[Luke da Zoo nerd]

I entered the words 'Bobcat Exhibit' in the ZooChat search gallery, as well as specifically only looking at photos that I have personally uploaded, and an absolute mountain of atrocious bobcat exhibits were there for me to glance through. It is astonishing at how many American zoos have terrible Bobcat enclosures. However, I did find 7 very good Bobcat exhibits.

This beauty is to be found at Wildlife Prairie Park in Illinois:

Here is another decent Bobcat exhibit at Dakota Zoo in North Dakota:

A smallish but still good Bobcat exhibit (opened in 2012) at Cosley Zoo in Illinois:

A superb Bobcat exhibit at Northwest Trek Wildlife Park in Washington:

Bobcat exhibit at Living Desert Zoo in California:

Bobcat exhibit at Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (although a bit small):

Bobcat exhibit at California Living Museum in California:

Superb Bobcat exhibits!

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

The ones I have seen in the majority of zoos in Europe and Latin America have really only appeared "adequate" at best (a few I would class as awful) or at most "good" and haven't really left me feeling over-impressed.

Sadly, I tend to think that in most cases small cats often remain just an afterthought by the management of zoos which invariably tend to focus much more attention towards their larger relatives.

However, a notable exception for me would be the enclosures for literally all of the small cat species kept at Le Parc des Felins. These seemed to be excellent in every sense and to really strike that elusive balance of taking into consideration the welfare needs of the occupants and the viewing and educational possibilities of the visitors.

 

[Xenarthra]

I entered the words 'Bobcat Exhibit' in the ZooChat search gallery, as well as specifically only looking at photos that I have personally uploaded, and an absolute mountain of atrocious bobcat exhibits were there for me to glance through. It is astonishing at how many American zoos have terrible Bobcat enclosures. However, I did find 7 very good Bobcat exhibits.

This beauty is to be found at Wildlife Prairie Park in Illinois:

Here is another decent Bobcat exhibit at Dakota Zoo in North Dakota:

A smallish but still good Bobcat exhibit (opened in 2012) at Cosley Zoo in Illinois:

A superb Bobcat exhibit at Northwest Trek Wildlife Park in Washington:

Bobcat exhibit at Living Desert Zoo in California:

Bobcat exhibit at Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (although a bit small):

Bobcat exhibit at California Living Museum in California:

I reeeally need to visit Living Desert, that's a great looking bobcat exhibit! CA Living Museum is an hour south of me and wouldn't hurt to visit either.

The ones I have seen in the majority of zoos in Europe and Latin America have really only appeared "adequate" at best (a few I would class as awful) or at most "good" and haven't really left me feeling over-impressed.

Sadly, I tend to think that in most cases small cats often remain just an afterthought by the management of zoos which invariably tend to focus much more attention towards their larger relatives.

However, a notable exception for me would be the enclosures for literally all of the small cat species kept at Le Parc des Felins. These seemed to be excellent in every sense and to really strike that elusive balance of taking into consideration the welfare needs of the occupants and the viewing and educational possibilities of the visitors.

Definitely agree with the "afterthought" sentiment. This thread is making me realize I truly haven't seen any great small cat exhibits (plus most small carnivores in general). Off the top of my head, I have bobcat, fishing cat, ocelot, and serval exhibits fairly accessible to me, and none of them I've seen so far have packed a punch. San Francisco's fishing cat exhibit, which I've only viewed in photos, seems... serviceable. Most bobcat exhibits have been hit or miss, Fresno's serval exhibit is pretty decent but about to be bulldozed, and LA's ocelots were in one of their very bleh roundhouses last time I saw them.

I also had the privilege of seeing a black-footed cat + kittens at Fresno in a sub-par exhibit quite a while back, though they're not there anymore (being bulldozed as well, I think they went to the Exotic Feline Breeding Compound). In summary: I've got big-time envy for everyone with access to exciting, well-housed cats

 

[Batto]

European wild cat and lynx enclosures at Wildpark Bad Mergentheim, Germany.
Fishing cats at Tierpark Hellabrunn & Tiergarten Nuremberg.
Sand cats at Zoo Magdeburg.

 

[Arizona Docent]

@Xenarthra The Living Desert is outstanding (in my top five) and is particularly good for carnivores. Their really small cats (sand cat and black-footed) are no longer on exhibit but their old exhibits were disgustingly small. Their neighboring bobcat/caracal/puma exhibits are excellent (plus good cheetah, leopard). You are correct about San Francisco fishing cat. I saw it in person a year and a half ago and it is adequate but not outstanding and the viewing for visitors is atrocious. My local zoo, Reid Park Zoo (Tucson), is planning an Asia addition for 2022 that will include fishing cat. I am anxious to see how it turns out (or if it stays on schedule with the current Covid-induced financial meltdown).

 

[Hvedekorn]

Ree Park's fishing cat exhibit comes to mind. It's about the same size as Nuremberg's, with a bigger land part and a smaller water part.

The new exhibits for lynxes and wild cats at Duisburg Zoo are also pretty good.

Other great lynx exhibits that I've seen in person that haven't been mentioned yet are the ones in Nuremberg as well as Tierpark Lange Erlen in Basel.

 

[snowleopard]

Any kind of lynx species seems to fare well in European zoos and here are some of my photos of decent lynx exhibits:

Eurasian Lynx exhibit at Dierenrijk in the Netherlands:

Eurasian Lynx exhibit at Duisburg Zoo in Germany:

Eurasian Lynx exhibit at Tierpark Aachen in Germany:

Canada Lynx exhibit at Wildlife Prairie Park in Illinois, USA:

Canada Lynx exhibit at Northwest Trek Wildlife Park in Washington, USA:

The best lynx exhibit I've ever seen is one at Dortmund Zoo in Germany, labeled as European Lynx and the photo is courtesy of @Maguari :

The USA is filled with terrible small cat exhibits for loads of species. There are numerous roadside zoos that probably have some of the worst small cat exhibits anywhere on the planet. There are two examples below:

An atrocious corn-crib cage for a Canada Lynx at Bear Den Zoo in Wisconsin, USA:

Eurasian Lynx exhibit at Timbavati Wildlife Park in Wisconsin, USA:

at

 

[Smannsaker]

In Norway, lynx exhibits need to be at least 1 ha (10 000 m^2) by law. Therefore, most of them are quite spectacular, compared to the exhibits in other countries. The pictures below only show a part of the exhibits.

Eurasian lynx exhibit in Bjørneparken (The bear park)

Eurasian lynx exhibit in Dyreparken i Kristiansand (Kristiansand zoo and amusement park) (the lynx is shown in the middle of the image)

The lynx exhibit in Skansen in Stockholm (Sweden) is a bit smaller, but quite nice as well.

It is to be noted that some of the laws that regulate zoos are quite old in Norway, and only native animals have legal minimum requirements.

 

[Xenarthra]

@Xenarthra The Living Desert is outstanding (in my top five) and is particularly good for carnivores. Their really small cats (sand cat and black-footed) are no longer on exhibit but their old exhibits were disgustingly small. Their neighboring bobcat/caracal/puma exhibits are excellent (plus good cheetah, leopard). You are correct about San Francisco fishing cat. I saw it in person a year and a half ago and it is adequate but not outstanding and the viewing for visitors is atrocious. My local zoo, Reid Park Zoo (Tucson), is planning an Asia addition for 2022 that will include fishing cat. I am anxious to see how it turns out (or if it stays on schedule with the current Covid-induced financial meltdown).

Well, you managed to sell me on it even more, I wasn't aware of them holding caracals and they're arguably my favorite small cat. Between that, the other great cats exhibits, and the painted dogs, it's becoming an essential trip! Would you happen to know if they're still exhibiting jaguars? I know they tragically lost a female during surgery last year, but I've been unable to find info on if she was their only animal or not. Getting to see one of my fave big cats alongside caracals would be a real treat.

My sympathies on the COVID anxieties btw. So many projects in the works risking delays and derailment, I feel for all the impacted facilities. Fingers crossed for your fishing cats and my home zoo's tigers that were about to get their big new exhibits.

 

[RetiredToTheZoo]

The Fishing Cat exhibit at the Memphis Zoo, however, when I was there a month ago it housed an Ocelot. The Little Rock Zoo finished construction on a new Caracal exhibit during the Covid 19 shutdown. I saw it nearly completed a week before the zoo closed and it looked very nice. I haven't had an opportunity to visit yet since they reopened just a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Julio C Castro]

I don’t know if it’s been said yet but I think one that is among one of the best for fishing cats is the Tiger River fishing cat exhibit at San Diego Zoo. As soon as you arrive to their exhibit early morning, they’re walking around and using their climbing opportunities. Even will fish at times with some the live prey they are given. Then they love to chill out at the very top, can almost hide so perfectly into the background and shrubbery.

 

[Arizona Docent]

@Xenarthra I am pretty sure The Living Desert still has jaguar.
@Julio C Castro When it was new (and full of lush ferns all the way to the bottom) the San Diego fishing cat exhibit was pretty good. In the last few years however most of the plants are gone and it is nowhere near as nice as it once was. The lack of plants also reveals just how small it is.

 

[Julio C Castro]

@Xenarthra I am pretty sure The Living Desert still has jaguar.
@Julio C Castro When it was new (and full of lush ferns all the way to the bottom) the San Diego fishing cat exhibit was pretty good. In the last few years however most of the plants are gone and it is nowhere near as nice as it once was. The lack of plants also reveals just how small it is.

I wish it did have more plants, they aren’t completely gone but I get where you’re coming from. It’s not rather large at all and vegetation can make it look like an dense jug le but on my last visit in June they had quite a bit of vegetation towards the top of the exhibit where the fishing cat likes to nap or stalk from while the very front of the exhibit is virtually gone from what I remember.