Geoffroy’s Cat

We recently have had Lonan join our collection who is settling in nicely, in this blog you can read up on our newest addition.

The Geoffroy’s cat (leopardus geoffroyi) is a small cat native to South America. They are similar in size to a domestic cat weighing in at around 3- 5kg.

Lonan can be found in his enclosure next to the lion and will spend the majority of the day snoozing in his nest-box as Geoffroy’s cats are more active during the night and hunt at dawn and dusk. These cats are arboreal and terrestrial; they will spend most of the time on the ground but are very agile climbers also, capable of walking along the underside of branches.

Diet

As crepuscular hunters these carnivores will catch birds, fish, amphibians, rodents, small agoutis and other small mammals. Here at the park we replicate this by giving Lonan a wide variety in his diet.

Mating

Geoffroy’s cats are solitary and only come together to breed. The mating season is between December and May and the male will breed with all the females within his range, meaning they are polygamous. The males do not help rearing the young. The females produce a litter of 1-4 kittens after a gestation of 67-78 days. These kittens are born blind and completely dependant on mum but quickly develop, they are able to walk around after 1 week and even climb with ease by 6 weeks. At around 8 months the kittens become independent and will venture off to find their own range.

Population and Threats

The Geoffroy’s cat is currently listed as Least Concern on the IUCN redlist; they are relatively common throughout their range but no estimates can be made of their actual population size. They do still have threats from human disturbance throughout their territory including deforestation and fragmentation leading to smaller ranges. They were also hunted excessively for their pelts in the 1980’s, in 1988 the species became protected and harvesting the species is now illegal.

Lonan

Lonan is a 1 year old male cat who came to us from a zoo in Germany. He was very quick to investigate his enclosure thoroughly and find his nestbox, where he can be found more often than not during the day time. He is quite shy but not afraid to tell us off when we try to clean his nestbox! We hope to build his confidence with us and look forward to getting to know his character more.

Facts:

• Geoffroy’s cat was named after Geoffroy St. Hilaire- a 19^th-century French naturalist who worked in the field of evolutionary theory.
• Due to hunting for fish they do not mind water, they are good swimmers and are often spotted swimming in the wild.