Best UK Margay enclosure

[felis silvestris]

This is just a bit of fun to judge the general consensus on the best enclosure for Margays in the UK. I have added a few photos from the gallery to make it easier for members to compare the different exhibits. If anyone wants to make an argument for a particular enclosure, please feel free to do so. Also, I would encourage people to list the enclosures in order of what they think is best.

The Gelada and Fishing cat polls are closing tomorrow so if you haven't voted please do before it closes.

Banham


Unfortunately there are no photos of this enclosure in the gallery. If someone can describe it or provide a photo that would be great.

Howletts

Exmoor

Welsh Mountain

Hanwell

Unfortunately there are no photos of this enclosure in the gallery. If someone can describe it or provide a photo that would be great.

Port Lympne

Shaldon

Photo credits to @MagpieGoose @gulogulogulo @Kalaw @CZJimmy

 

[Kalaw]

I have seen three (Howletts, Exmoor and Shaldon), and I thought all of them were decent, but hardly extraordinary.

Howletts is very densely vegetated, offering a lot of cover and privacy for its shy inhabitants, but equally that makes it hard to get good views of the cats (the lack of onshow indoor viewing, unless I am forgetting something, worsens this). Exmoor offers a lot of height and climbing, but on four visits, I have never seen the Margays use this (they're only ever visible indoors), the ground space is a little small and has almost no vegetation.

Shaldon finds a nice balance, with plenty of plants, but not so many that you can't see the inhabitants should they venture outdoors, decent amounts of climbing and space, and an onshow indoor viewing area. It also has by far the largest separation enclosure out of the three, and offers its inhabitants 24 hour access to the outdoor space (not sure if many zoos do this for felines), which is particularly useful given the timed feeder in the centre of the enclosure, which disperses food at certain intervals across the night, to reflect their nocturnal nature. This is a good way of being able to display them diurnally, but still encourage natural behaviours. Of the three, Shaldon is by far the best in my opinion, and as such gets my vote, but as I have not seen the others, I would be very curious to see what others have to say about those enclosures.

 

[Lafone]

I’ve only seen Exmoor and Banham. Of the two I liked Banham’s better but they are fairly similar.

As Kalaw mentioned the Exmoor ground space seemed a little smaller than comparable enclosures - it may be they use the upper spaces when more active at night if they can get in that part.

Banham has a relatively small house with two levels and access at the back / side for the keepers. The outside area is then a rectangular shape with a glass and wire front with climbing frames and a good amount of planting. The cat can hide out at the back of the enclosure outside. It seems like a fair space for the single cat. I’ve only seen the margay out a couple of times and then in the round shaped house in the outside. They aren’t the easiest cats to see of course.

 

[Rosie183]

Hanwell margay have a indoor enclosure which you can’t see much as the viewing window is always blinded by the sunlight, and then they have a wooden box which margay can sleep in but can only be seen by standing on the bench in front to get a view. Nearly identical to shaldon
The outside enclosure is also very similar to Exmoor but again the margay is also barley visible unless your extremely lucky to see them.

 

[TNT]

I'll get Hanwell and Banham photos added tomorrow morning

 

[Rajang21]

Hanwell’s outdoor enclosure. Difficult viewing but a decent usable space for the animals.

 

[Alwaysevergreen]

That image for Port Lympne, again like the Civet, looks an old exhibit and not their current one. The current one is a lot smaller and feels overgrown with no recollection of that pond?

 

[TNT]

Sorry for the delay, but here's an overview of the Banham Zoo margay enclosure. There are also small off show in and outdoor enclosures.

 

[Rajang21]

Interested to know the reasoning behind the votes for WMZ. I appreciate the photo makes it look a good size but it also looks very open and exposed for an arboreal, secretive animal. I have not seen the enclosure in person so would appreciate further descriptions.

Banham's does look nice (I have seen this in person but not for many years).

 

[Keelan]

I think that welsh mountain have a lovely enclosure. It is raised from ground level. There is lots of foliage which gous further back than what this photo shows. There are also 2 houses. One viewable house aylt the front and an off show one at the back so the animals have plenty of room. It is also in a nice quiet area of the park. Also the picture looks like an older one there is more foliage now.

 

[Brum]

I've also only seen three (Exmoor, Shaldon, Banham) but of those then Exmoor is the best. On two of my four visits in the past few years the Margays have been at the very top of the enclosure so the usable space is a lot more than initially appears.
Of the ones I haven't seen I'm surprised WMZ is scoring so highly because whilst there's a lot of ground space and foliage there doesn't seem to be a lot of climbing apparatus or (strangely considering the plants) cover. I'm not a Margay expert but thought they'd be semi-essential for an arboreal, not to mention nocturnal and rainforest dwelling species?