Pampas cats in Brazilian zoos

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

This is a thread to document and discuss the subject of the pampas cat (Leopardus colocola & Leopardus braccatus) in Brazilian zoos and captive breeding facilities.

If you have any information about holdings of the species (whether historic or current) and breeding within zoos in the country please post it here.

Look forward to reading your replies !

 

[David Matos Mendes]

We're gonna consider both Leopardus colocolo and Leopardus braccatus here, right? As most of the institutions in the country that I know hold L. colocolo.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

We're gonna consider both Leopardus colocolo and Leopardus braccatus here, right? As most of the institutions in the country that I know hold L. colocolo.

Yes, definitely both of these.

 

[Enzo]

I saw Pampas cats (Leopardus colocolo) in Sorocaba (January 2016) and Belo Horizonte (November 2020). There are definitely some in São Paulo, but they're probably kept off-show.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

I saw Pampas cats (Leopardus colocolo) in Sorocaba (January 2016) and Belo Horizonte (November 2020). There are definitely some in São Paulo, but they're probably kept off-show.

Thank you for your reply @Enzo !

Yep, there are two pampas cats at Sorocaba which originally came from BH zoo.

This is a picture I took of the male :

Another picture I took of the female:

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

I saw Pampas cats (Leopardus colocolo) in Sorocaba (January 2016) and Belo Horizonte (November 2020). There are definitely some in São Paulo, but they're probably kept off-show.

No idea about BH zoo but @David Matos Mendes will definitely know how many they have and I think they have bred them historically.

I will find out about SP zoo from a colleague and post back here on this thread about how many they have.

 

[David Matos Mendes]

No idea about BH zoo but @David Matos Mendes will definitely know how many they have and I think they have bred them historically.

I will find out about SP zoo from a colleague and post back here on this thread about how many they have.

BH still breeds the pampas cat. There are at least three of them on exhibit at the moment. A kitten and two adults, wich I'm not sure if it's a couple because I think the zoo sent a female to SP some time ago if I'm not wrong. There are probably some of them on the backstage, once BH is part of the species national studbook.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

BH still breeds the pampas cat. There are at least three of them on exhibit at the moment. A kitten and two adults, wich I'm not sure if it's a couple because I think the zoo sent a female to SP some time ago if I'm not wrong. There are probably some of them on the backstage, once BH is part of the species national studbook.

Thanks for sharing @David Matos Mendes !

They have definitely had some decent success with the species over the years I think as they have had offspring sent to other zoos.

Are the BH animals in three separate enclosures or held together at the zoo at the moment ?

 

[David Matos Mendes]

Thanks for sharing @David Matos Mendes !

They have definitely had some decent success with the species over the years I think as they have had offspring sent to other zoos.

Are the BH animals in three separate enclosures or held together at the zoo at the moment ?

The ones that are on exhibit are all kept in the same enclosure. Their home is made from two former big ape exhibits that are interconnected. It's not the most pretty enclosure, but it has quite a nice total size.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

The ones that are on exhibit are all kept in the same enclosure. Their home is made from two former big ape exhibits that are interconnected. It's not the most pretty enclosure, but it has quite a nice total size.

Interesting, it sounds like it is quite spacious for these animals, do you have photos of the exhibit by any chance ?

 

[David Matos Mendes]

Interesting, it sounds like it is quite spacious for these animals, do you have photos of the exhibit by any chance ?

I have many footage of the cats on the exhibit, but it doesn't show the space properly. Last time I searched for pictures of this exhibit on my archives I couldn't find any, but I'll look better. For now, take a look at this image from google street view: (it's larger than it seems in these images)
Google Maps

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

I have many footage of the cats on the exhibit, but it doesn't show the space properly. Last time I searched for pictures of this exhibit on my archives I couldn't find any, but I'll look better. For now, take a look at this image from google street view: (it's larger than it seems in these images)
Google Maps

Oh yeah, I think you may have shown me it before, it definitely looks far more spacious for these animals than the enclosure at Sorocaba and well planted too.

I also like that there is a bit more distance between the visitors and the front of the enclosure due to the barrier and some of the trees in front so this hopefully does reduce stress.

 

[David Matos Mendes]

Oh yeah, I think you may have shown me it before, it definitely looks far more spacious for these animals than the enclosure at Sorocaba and well planted too.

I also like that there is a bit more distance between the visitors and the front of the enclosure due to the barrier and some of the trees in front so this hopefully does reduce stress.

Yes, the enclosure is very well planted indeed, has something around 150 m2, and you can notice the visitor barrier is newer than the original one (wich is still there) made on purpose to leave people more distant from the animals. The handling areas are open all day long for them to hide, and there are a lot of wooden little huts inside the enclosure for them to sleep inside. Only what misses in this inclosure is the aesthetic, wich could be solved by changing the iron bars with glass panels or some kind of less thick net. It would be great to add a little bit of mock rock to the walls on the interior and exterior too.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

Yes, the enclosure is very well planted indeed, has something around 150 m2, and you can notice the visitor barrier is newer than the original one (wich is still there) made on purpose to leave people more distant from the animals. The handling areas are open all day long for them to hide, and there are a lot of wooden little huts inside the enclosure for them to sleep inside. Only what misses in this inclosure is the aesthetic, wich could be solved by changing the iron bars with glass panels or some kind of less thick net. It would be great to add a little bit of mock rock to the walls on the interior and exterior too.

Yes, its a great idea for the animals to have greater privacy, the enclosure at Sorocaba zoo for these cats is very close to the public and I've noticed the proximity to the visitors and noise tends to stress them out quite a lot (and particularly the female who really doesn't like people and is quite fierce).

I'm also impressed to learn that they leave the handling areas open all day at BH (another thing that Sorocaba should be doing IMO and doesn't) as that definitely will enhance their quality of life.

Regarding aesthetics, yes, true, but I'm sure the animals don't really mind it.

The enclosures that Cristina has for this species has a mock rock wall at the back and the cats seem to enjoy scaling it and using it but more than that I would say that what this species seems to love is ground level areas where they can hide away like hollowed out logs or clumps of shaded vegetation.

 

[David Matos Mendes]

Yes, its a great idea for the animals to have greater privacy, the enclosure at Sorocaba zoo for these cats is very close to the public and I've noticed the proximity to the visitors and noise tends to stress them out quite a lot (and particularly the female who really doesn't like people and is quite fierce).

I'm also impressed to learn that they leave the handling areas open all day (another thing that Sorocaba should be doing IMO and doesn't) as that definitely will enhance their quality of life.

Regarding aesthetics, yes, true, but I'm sure the animals don't really mind it.

The enclosures that Cristina has for this species has a mock rock wall at the back and the cats seem to enjoy scaling it and using it but more than that I would say that what this species seems to love is ground level areas where they can hide away like hollowed out logs or clumps of shaded vegetation.

Have the cats ever bred at Sorocaba? How is the ambientation of the interior of their exhibit?

Yes, BH leaves most of the handling areas (possibly all of them) open all day and night long; and yeah, the aesthetic would be mostly important for immersion issues for the visitors indeed and not that much for the animals.

Great to know Cristina has got a nice structure like this for them to interact with! I've seen pictures of some of the exhibits at mata ciliar many years ago, but don't remember them very well...

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

Have the cats ever bred at Sorocaba? How is the ambientation of the interior of their exhibit?

Yes, BH leaves most of the handling areas (possibly all of them) open all day and night long; and yeah, the aesthetic would be mostly important for immersion issues for the visitors indeed and not that much for the animals.

Great to know Cristina has got a nice structure like this for them to interact with! I've seen pictures of some of the exhibits at mata ciliar many years ago, but don't remember them very well...

No, never have bred, the exhibit at Sorocaba isn't anything special really.

It is about a quarter of the size of the BH zoo exhibit and has a dirt floor with leaf litter, a ledge above the entrance to the handling area where they can climb up to, some dead branches, a few hammocks constructed from old fire hoses donated by the municipal fire department and a wooden shelter (same with the margays, grison and jaguarundi in the same small carnivore building).

You can sort of see it / get an idea of the appearance in some of the photos I uploaded to the gallery :

Well the pampas cats at Mata ciliar / neotropical feline conservation center bred in late 2019 and had a kitten so breeding success is good.

However, the problem is finding homes for offspring with Brazilian zoos as many of these are not particularly interested in housing the species.

 

[Arizona Docent]

...breeding success is good but the problem is finding homes for them with Brazilian zoos as many of these are not particularly interested in housing the species.

Then send them here to USA! (The problem is not many places here want them either).

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

Then send them here to USA! (The problem is not many places here want them either).

Yes, exactly, they are not highly sought after by zoos which is a shame IMO as their ex-situ conservation is lacking to say the least.

 

[Arizona Docent]

I do know a cat specialist facility in the USA that for a while had pampas cat listed on their website as they were expecting one from Brazil. They finally removed it when they updated their website because it clearly was not happening (for reasons I don't fully understand).

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

I do know a cat specialist facility in the USA that for a while had pampas cat listed on their website as they were expecting one from Brazil. They finally removed it when they updated their website because it clearly was not happening (for reasons I don't fully understand).

I imagine it could have been down to issues with bureaucracy either on the US or Brazilian side, that probably had something to do with it.

I've probably moaned about this before on the forum but I really think it is a damn shame that there isn't much interest shown in the species in either research / field studies or in keeping them in zoos.

Almost nothing is known about their ecology and as a Near-Threatened species with several endangered subspecies they do require a greater ex-situ presence in zoos / captive breeding facilities (primarily within the range countries but it wouldn't hurt to have them in North American or European zoos either).