Chester Zoo Chester Zoo Discussion, Speculation & Questions 2018

This doesn’t surprise me at all. I’m only 25 minutes away and the snow here is quite considerable. I haven’t seen snow like this in 8 years!
 
The plans have not changed, but the felid has. There were too many problems importing the first choice species.
 
is this the species that was identified in another thread, but not clarified, because it didn't need clarifying as it was already identified?
 
There are kind of two conversations to have around this; what it originally was going to be, and what it now is going to be.
 
It was announced at the December members's meeting, I don't know if the species has been posted on the forum or not.

It is a new species for the zoo, so the following can be ruled out, having all been kept previously

European Wild Cat (Felis silvestris)
Scottish Wild Cat (Felis silvestris grampia)
Siamese Cat (Felis cattus)
Jungle Cat (Felis chaus)
Northern Black-footed Cat (Felis nigripes nigripes)
European Lynx (Lynx lynx lynx)
Siberian Lynx (Lynx lynx wrangeli)
Canadian Lynx (Lynx canadensis)
Bobcat (Lynx rufus)
Caracal (Caracal caracal)
Serval (Leptailurus serval)
West African Serval (Leptailurus serval brachyura)
Zambesi Serval (Leptailurus serval ingridi)
Indochinese Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis bengalensis)
Chilean Pampas Cat (Lynchailurus colocolo colocolo)
Paraguayan Geoffroy's Cat (Oncifelis geoffroyi paraguayae)
Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis)
Margay (Leopardus wiedii)
Yucatan Margay (Leopardus wiedii yucatanicus)
Oncilla (Leopardus tigrinus)
Jaguarundi (Puma jagouaroundi)
Puma (Puma concolor)
.
 
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SMR said:
It surprised me, there was only a small amount of snow in Chester, and by midday most had thawed. I've been to the zoo when there was 60cm of snow, so the policy must've changed.
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It surprised me I’m 14 miles away & had no issues getting to the zoo this morning, I was overjoyed as I drove up the drive to see so few cars & no coaches. That lasted a full minute until I found out why
 
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littleRedPanda said:
I thought it was 'sort of' confirmed to be a Pallas's cat. Has that sort of changed then? This is worse than football transfer gossip :D
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It hasn't been confirmed unless people believe everything that I say.

In the case of that, announcement time!! The 'Bears of the World Project' is actually real and will also contain giant short faced bears and atlas bears. 100% real, believe me!
 
Seriously though, this leaves us with the following species being possible:

  • Marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata) (None kept in Europe so very unlikely)
  • Bay cat (Catopuma badia) (None kept in Europe so very unlikely)
  • Asian golden cat (Catopuma temminckii) (5 collections in Europe, 1 in the UK (Belfast). South East Asian subspecies kept so a possible species for Islands however no plans have been submitted to the council for an exhbit for them so unsure)
  • African golden cat (Caracal aurata) (None kept in Europe so very unlikely)
  • Kodkod (Leopardus guigna) (None kept in Europe so very unlikely)
  • Andean mountain cat (Leopardus jacobita) (None kept in Europe so very unlikely)
  • Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) (4 collections in Europe, all in Iberia. Unlikely but who knows?)
  • Fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) (45 collections in Europe, 10 in the UK. Would fit with Islands but the exhibit doesn't seem suitable for them)
  • Sunda leopard cat (Prionailurus javanensis) (Never even kept in Europe, effectivley impossible)
  • Flat-headed cat (Prionailurus planiceps) (None kept in Europe so very unlikely)
  • Rusty-spotted cat (Prionailurus rubiginosus) (14 collections in Europe, 5 in the UK. Would be very big enclosure for them but who knows.)
  • Pallas's cat (Otocolobus manul) (38 collections in Europe, 6 in the UK. The most likely in my opinion)
  • Sand cat (Felis margarita) (26 collections in Europe, 1 in the UK. The exhibit does not seem suitable at all for these)
  • African wildcat (Felis lybica) (None kept in Europe so very unlikely)
  • Chinese mountain cat (Felis bieti) (None kept in Europe so very unlikely)
I think Pallas's cat is definitley the most likely choice. I would put Asian golden cats in a far below second. Who knows, maybe we will be surprised with some Iberian lynx? My bets are still on Pallas's cat as they have been since the beginning.
 
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