Leopard subspecies in European zoos

[Ceylonpanther]

That used to be an opinion I shared but every time I've seen that come up on zoochat previously, it has been said the AZA does not have enough space to support more than one leopard subspecies. I hope that makes it more understandable why four species being held in Europe seems like many in comparison.

They have space to manage three subspecies of tigers but they don't have space for manage at least one more leopard subspecies? I'm skeptical about that.

 

[Coelacanth18]

They have space to manage three subspecies of tigers but they don't have space for manage at least one more leopard subspecies? I'm skeptical about that.

Why are you skeptical of that? How does space for tigers have anything to do with space for leopards?

 

[Ceylonpanther]

Why are you skeptical of that? How does space for tigers have anything to do with space for leopards?

I think it is not about space that much, and I just mentioned the tigers for comparison.

 

[Coelacanth18]

@Ceylonpanther Most of the zoos that would hold subspecific leopards already hold Amur. Other exhibits that might hold leopards are being occupied by snow leopards and clouded leopards.

I think it's worth asking: how likely is it that Europe has the space to manage that many leopard subspecies long-term? For a short-lived animal, 43 and 57 are pretty low population numbers. Are these newly established or have they been that low for a while?

 

[Zorro]

EEP had 106 animals at the begining of this year, not all animals were kept in Europe.

Read article

I believe the Australian population are part of the EEP program

 

[Ceylonpanther]

@Ceylonpanther Most of the zoos that would hold subspecific leopards already hold Amur. Other exhibits that might hold leopards are being occupied by snow leopards and clouded leopards.

I think it's worth asking: how likely is it that Europe has the space to manage that many leopard subspecies long-term? For a short-lived animal, 43 and 57 are pretty low population numbers. Are these newly established or have they been that low for a while?

I think that they have been that low for a while. In 2021 and 2022 Sri lankan leopards have had a lot of births.

 

[Therabu]

I think that the space issue for leopard subspecies in Europe should be treated at a higher level. They are competing with snow leopards, clouded leopard and to a slightly smaller degree with jaguars as well.

If European zoos would dedicate less space for snow leopards for example, that would probably allow for more Chinese and Amur leopards space.
Given that Ceylan, Chinese and Persian leopards are all endangered and not held anywhere else outside of the country of origin, I think it would be of the responsibility of the TAG to frankly prioritize those subspecies and, not phase out but put a hold on the expansion of competing species.