Jaguar (Panthera onca)

Since jaguars are the largest big cat in the Western Hemisphere withinin Southwest United States, Mexico and Central America, they live in the jungle. This makes them the king of the jungle. But wait…aren’t lions the king of the jungle? No, lions are the king of the Savannahs in Africa. I bet your mind is blown right now. All your life after watching “The Lion King,” I’m sad to admit that you have been raised with lies about lions being the king of the jungle. Ultimately with hands down, it is jaguars who are the king of the jungle.

At the Omaha Zoo, we have two jaguars, Manny (male) and Malcom (male). These boys are very fascinating to me. These cats tend to be very fixated on objects, especially people. I remember last summer when I was here, I used to do my runs at night and they would always be the most intrigued to greet me. Even though they come across as calm, cool and collected, they would be the last cat I would want to be inside a cage with.  Jaguars have the strongest bite PSI (per square inch) of all big cats which is 2,000 lbs/PSI. Lions can only bite around 1,100 lbs/PSI. Jaguars have amazing stalking skills. Due to their big padded paws, they are able to silence anything that they step on. This leads to the ultimate predator advantage. From there, they have a very muscular body to make large lunges and pounces onto their next prey.

Jaguars are considered to be nearly threatened on the Conservation Status spectrum. As of now, they are pretty safe from extinction, but poaching is a large reason why there is even a decline in jaguar populations. It is no wonder that poachers would want their pelage because of their beautiful patterns. Jaguars have a beautifully rusty orange color with white on the underside. In addition, they have these black dots and circles. Some of these circles however have dots within the circle. This is a helping distinguishing factor to tell the difference between jaguars and Amur leopards. In addition, jaguars are very bulky and muscular as some of the other cats such as cheetahs and leopards are very not. Since jaguars live in a warmer environment, they pelage is very sleek and smooth.

An interesting fact about jaguars is that sometimes they can have color morphism. This is when you see the typical “black panther” that is still considered a jaguar. The reason that they are still considered a jaguar is because you can still see the spots on them. The allele for this trait is dominant.

Manny

Puma (Puma concolor)

Pumas can be recognized with many names. Some people refer them to cougars, mountain lions, painters, screamer, and catamount and even as cars or a name brand. Fortunately, I’ll be talking about the animal, not the car or nice tennis shoes. First off, I would like to share about our two pumas, Princess (female) and Omaha (male).

Both cats have a similar background on how they got to Omaha’s zoo. Due to human expansion and demand for space, both of these pumas were found roaming around with close human proximity and for the safety of both cats and people, we had to take them in. It would not make sense to relocate the cats to a more fitting environment in a more appropriate setting since they would more than likely return where we found them. And that is how we named our male puma, Omaha. We found him in the city running around.

Pumas are fortunately considered on the least concerned on the conservation status spectrum. As a top predator, as all other cats, pumas are vital to an ecosystem to help regulate other organisms. They help maintain a good balance of other organisms not being over populated and causing disorder. They roam in the Americas from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes of South America. They are also considered large wild terrestrial animal in the Western Hemisphere. However, it is second heaviest in comparison to the jaguar.

A really interesting fact about the naming and etymology of pumas is that the Puma concolor holds the Guinness record for the animal with the highest number of names. It is no surprise since they have a large range of habitat that they can survive in.

As for their taxonomy and evolution, pumas are actually not considered a big cat. Pumas are more closely related to the subfamily Felinae rather than the subfamily Pantherinae (the big cats). However, pumas are the largest small cat within the Felinae subfamily. As mentioned in my other blog posting about the snow leopards, another distinguishing factor between Pantherinaes and Felinaes is that Felinas lack a specialized larynx and hyoid apparatus that allows them to roar. Instead, they just growl and hiss. Both Omaha and Princess excessively like to growl and hiss at me. They tend to be pretty sassy like Nat, the Amur leopard, since it is in their species to be extra protective of their territory.

Princess

Omaha

African Lion (Panthera leo)

Omaha is very fortunate to have as many lions as they do in their facility. The lions that we have is Mr. Big (alpha male), Mfisha (female), Ahadi (female) and Josiri (male cub of Mr. Big and Mfisha).  As of now, Josiri is the only cub of five to be left here at the zoo. Now that Josiri is getting older, we hope to find another good home for him due to lack of space that we have in Omaha’s zoo. All of these lions definitely have their own personality. I’ll start with Mr. Big:

Mr. Big is a really cool cat, not pun intended. :P Despite how massive his size and temper tantrums are, I’m sure he has a sensitive side. We sometimes converse with each other as I’m cleaning his back holding. Sometimes Mai, the Malaysian tiger chimes along as well. When Mr. Big does not feel like transferring to his back holding, Mai, the keepers and myself call Mr. Big to come over. Eventually he brings his massive (roughly 550 pounds) self over. He sure likes to take his sweet time. Once we get Mr. Big in, he usually likes to lay in his corner away from the hose. He is definitely not a big fan of that.

As for Mfisha, she is a female and sister to Ahadi. She is a good mother to Josiri. She tends to be more content with the keepers. However, something in common that I have noticed with all of our lions is that they like to take their time coming to the back holding so that we can clean out their in and outdoor displays.

Ahadi is Josiri’s aunt. She tends to be a little protective about anything that has to do with her. She is not a big fan of Josiri. Since Josiri is basically a teenager, I don’t blame her.

Josiri is the last cub out of five to be left here at the zoo. He is really starting to grow out his mane. However, he is still a baby to me since he still has his speckled spots and tries to show me how tough he is.  I just smile back at him. As of now, I still have not figured out if this just makes him 

angrier at me or if it’s just a challenge. Hopefully I’ll figure that out with him before I leave for the summer.

Now facts about lions: Lions are actually the second largest big cat. Tigers beat them to that race. Lions can be found in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia and are considered endangered.  A really interesting fact about lions is that in the late Pleistocene era, lions were the most widespread large land mammal second to humans.

Mr. Big

Josiri

Ahadi

Mfisha

Snow Leopards (Uncia uncia)

Karma (left) Pasha (right)

Snow leopards are very interesting to me. Despite their beautiful markings, they are very interesting to me because of their behavior. Snow leopards tend to be on the more docile and content side rather than aggressive like their close relative, the amur leopard. Omaha’s zoo has two leopards, Karma (female) and Pasha (male). These two are a mating pair and we hope to see cubs in the near future. They are very close together and nurturing towards each other. It really makes my day seeing these two all of the time.  In addition, I think they look forward to seeing me every day due to how much they take a curiosity of me when I walk in the back holding.

As for a basic background on all snow leopards, they can be found in Central and South Asia and are considered endangered. You can commonly find these snow leopards in the mountains where it is a lot colder environment. An interesting fact about snow leopards is that they are the national animal of Pakistan.  Interestingly enough, their tail is quite long in comparison to their body size ratio.  This is beneficial because their tail is full of fat and thickly covered with fur to help cover their face when they are asleep. In addition, snow leopards have large paws to stalk throw the snow more quietly. Another interesting fact is about their muzzle. Since wintery weather comes with very thin air supply in the mountains, they have a short muzzle with large nasal cavities and helps intake the most amount of air. Another cool fact about snow leopards is that they cannot roar unlike their relatives. Snow leopards lack a specialized larynx and hypoid apparatus. This now makes sense to me since Karma and Pasha are so quiet and content. 

Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis)

Amur leopards are the most endangered cats among all big cats. They stand as critically endangered. The amur leopard that we have at the zoo is a female named Nat, short for Natalia. Nat is a pretty sassy cat. She is not as friendly as Payson, the white Bengal tiger. It is more common for her to be more aggressive due to that running in her species so I try not to take it personally. Sometimes Nat can be fun though. She is very good at stalking. There was this one time when I was cleaning around her outside display and while I was not paying as close of attention, she tries to sneak up and pounce on me. I noticed the people looking at the exhibit look at me. When I turn around, she is ready to pounce! Only I caught her in the act, she looked stumped and walked off because she got caught.  Since I find Nat to be extremely sassy, this would explain her behavior. Leopards are very extremely conservative of their territory. Therefore, she shows aggressive behavior when I am up close to her.

People often confuse leopards as cheetahs and jaguars. However, if you look at them all closely, there are pretty quite distinct differences between them.  Despite the obvious spots they all have, leopards have black circles with their orange color in the center. Jaguars have dots within their black circles. Leopards also have a thicker and fluffy fur due to living in colder habitats in north eastern Asia. This is the only cat species to be adapted to a cold, snowy climate. Cheetahs and jaguars have a finer coat since cheetahs live in the Sahara desert and jaguars live in tropical jungles. Jaguars tend to be more bulky as cheetahs are very sleek for their athletic lifestyle.

Natalia

Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris)

Payson

Bengal tigers are what most people think of when they think of a tiger. I find these tigers to be very beautiful and unique. Unfortunately like I have mentioned in other “Cat of the Week/Day” posts, the Black Market craves a high demand for their pelage. Bengal tigers are classified as endangered. These tigers can be in Bengladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. These are all parts of India. These kinds of tigers are very similar to Amur tigers with their orange coloration and black stripes. However, there is an exception to the white Bengal tiger. To most people, the white appearance instead of orange is thought to be albinism. However, the white color trait is a recessive mutation. Even though there are cases of albino tigers, it is not always the case. Fortunately, I find it very interesting that the zoo has a white tiger. Her name is Payson.

Payson is quite the tiger. I enjoy seeing her every day. When I start my mornings, Payson is always one of the few tigers who is as eager to greet me as I do for her. She is very welcoming and loves it when I give her a quick rinse her off with a hose due to how warm it is.  She pounces, bites, and slides across her back holding. It is really fun to watch such a big animal play not realizing how big she is. She has a strong curiosity for what I am doing whenever I pass her by. I will for sure miss her when I go back to school this summer!

Training, Interpretation & Interpretation Workshop

If you ever got a chance to read my blog from last summer, I mentioned Jay Pratte. Pratte is the head of ATC (Animal Training Committee) of the zoo. I really admire his work because I hope someday, I can do the same work as him. I love doing training and enrichment. Something new that Pratte wanted to do for the zoo was to target summer keepers, interns, new hires, and/or as a refresher for current keepers to have a basic understanding about training, enrichment and interpretation. Having my prior experience as an intern last summer and having a psychology minor, this workshop was not as new information to me. A lot of the information that was shared, I have already had a background in.

However, I did learn new things, especially with interpretation. Interpretation can be almost seen as training itself. Every encounter you have with an animal can make or break trust with that individual. It is not only just in training sessions. After realizing that, I feel that I'm more involved with the training process than I thought. During training sessions, they do not let interns (especially with cats and bears) be part of it. However, in a different way I am. From the time I walk and have an encounter with an animal, that animal is constantly learning something from me. 

Lion Physical

A few days ago, I got to help participate in a once in a lifetime experience. People often ask me how often we have “in cage with an animal” encounters. The answer to that is not very much, in fact, hardly at all. The reason why we do not go in the enclosures and back holdings with an animal present is for ours and the animal’s safety. Big cats and bears are still dangerous animals and should be respected for that reason. In addition, it gives comfort to each animal to know that their space belongs to them. It helps reduce stress and anxiety when trust is established between the keeper and the animal. So, the only time keepers and technicians can go inside an enclosure with a cat and or bear is present is when they are under anesthesia.

Even though my part to help out with this lion physical was not much, it was truly an amazing experience. Most people’s interaction with cats and bears is typically at a zoo or even out in their natural habitat. I have been fortunate enough to have literally face-to-face encounters with a barrier inches away with these animals. After that day, I was able to have my hand touching a very strong lioness. This was a very exhilarating feeling knowing that such a small percent of people can actually have these encounters with these amazing animals once the lioness was safely under anesthesia. Once under anesthesia, I helped moved the lioness in a better position for the vet team to take over. We had to work quickly and get as much of the physical done before the anesthesia wore off or had to inject more in. With cats, they have a very strong vein in their tail so that we can take blood samples and blood pressures. I thought this was very interesting since I was expecting to see the vets get this information from the lion’s forearms.  We also did an ultrasound to look at all the main major organs to make sure everything was the way it should be. In addition, we looked at the pads of their paws, checked their claws for possible overgrowth, and their mouth. The mouth inspection was very interesting since I learned how to safely open up a carnivore’s mouth.

When animals are under anesthesia, the last indicating factor if there is enough anesthesia present is doing the jaw check. If the jaw is a bit tight and not easily able to move, more anesthesia is needed. The first reaction when coming out of anesthesia is having a clenched jaw. Even when animals are unconscious, if messed with, jaws can contract and bite you. 

Allergic to Cats? The Facts About Cat Dander

It is very common for people to be allergic to cat dander.  Even though I have never been diagnosed with any allergies, I commonly find myself having a minor reaction when I am around cats, especially kittens. Who can resist them?!

Don't worry, this is a domestic kitten. Photo and owner courtesy of Adam McDermott

After taking more thought about realizing that I will be working with big cats, it did not cross my mind about suffering all day with these allergies. This is going to be a long summer. L Surprisingly, I have been fine working with them. You would think that working with big cats all day would drive my allergies nuts! There is actually a reason why I am not reacting to big cats versus domestic cats. It all comes down to their dander, not dandruff.

First off, what is the difference between dander and dandruff? According to good-old and most reliable source that your professors highly suggest you use, Wikipedia states, “Dander is an informal term for a material shed from the body of various animals,…it is composed of skin cells,… is microscopic, can be transported through the air and enter the mucous membranes of the lungs.” As for dandruff, dandruff according to another reliable source, a Yahoo blogger states, “the big flakes you see caused by something wrong in the skin that is being irritated.”

But the question still remains, why do I not have a reaction to big cats and but still do with domestic? Let’s take a closer look at the microscopic level. About.com puts it words really well. “Domestic cats carry Fel D1…which is a glycoprotein found in the cat’s sebaceous glands under the skin…as well in saliva and urine to a lesser extent. When cats groom themselves, the Fel D1 present in their saliva lands on their skin and hairs, creates”… a more saturated concentration of Fel D1.”

So to answer our question, big do not have as much Fel D1 present in the sebaceous glands as do domestic cats. Therefore, I am not having a reaction. J

Animal of the Day/Week: Malayan Tiger (Panthera tigris jacksoni)

Mai

Malayan/Malaysian tigers are very fascinating. These tigers are named after a general of a Japanese Imperial Army. In addition, these tigers are the national animal of Malaysia. They can be found in central parts of the Malay Peninsula of Malaysia, southern Thailand and Singapore. These tigers are slightly smaller than Amur Tigers. Despite their similar colors, Malayan tigers have more of a sleeker body. As beautiful as their pelage may be, there is a high demand for their pelage in the black market. This brings me to talk about Mai, our female Malayan tiger at the Henry Doorly Zoo.

Mai has a very special story.  She was found out in the wild nearly on the brink of dying. Poachers have found her with their only intention of salvaging her fur. Fortunately, a rescue team has found her and saved her life. Unfortunately, however, the poachers harmed Mai so bad that the rescue team had to amputate her front left arm in order to save her. After that, she was sent to the Omaha Zoo and she has been receiving a lot of attention. Even though she may have a difficult time getting around on three legs, she is always very eager to move around and greet me whenever I clean her display and back holding.

Animal of the Day/Week: Amur Tiger (Panthera tigris altaica)

Each week, I would like to share information about the animals I am working with. This week, I want to chose is the Amur tiger. Amur tigers are also known as Siberian tigers. They are considered endangered on the conservation status. This means that they are threatened with danger or with extinction.  These tigers can be commonly found in the Sikhote Alin Mountains in the Russian Far East. The ones that we have at the zoo are named: Nika (female), Nikita (female), Isabella (female), and Yorgi (male).

Some common characteristics they help identify these kinds of tigers are reddish-rusty in color with black transverse stripes, their fur tends to be very thick, full and fluffy, and that their body length is longer than Bengal tigers and African lions. In addition, their vocals have more of a ruffled effect in their voice. 

Amur tigers diet in the wild consists of bears, ungulates, wolves and other small mammals. Here at the zoo, we feed our tigers and most of our larger big cats roughly 25 pounds of meat daily with the exception of two fasting days. On the fasting days, we give them a smaller amount of meat or substitute their diet with something else such as, horse tails, rat, chicken, bones, and etc. The reason why we fast our cats is because in real life, sometimes a big cat may not be able to find prey and cannot eat for a day. In addition, fasting is commonly used in the case if we need to have a vet come in for a special procedure so that the vet can get good images if we have to perform an ultrasound to check the vital organs.  Also, this helps regulate their diet if a big cat does not have much of an appetite and encourages them to be more hungry and ready for their regular diet the next day.

Isabella

 Nika

Yorgi

Isabella visitng me every morning :)

First day and training with Manny

Between my first official day working with the big cats, bears and a humongous storm, I’m glad to say that I survived it all. Having my previous experiences from last summer has really helped me a lot. However, there are some differences. The key thing I learned today is how serious safety is. Working with large, carnivorous animals is very important to the zoo crew. The big cats may appear friendly, but we still need to treat them with respect and space. The snow leopards did not seem to mind me as much, but I had to pay special attention to the leopards and jaguars as they like to fixate on things and go into a pouncing mode.  

I really enjoyed watching the training session that we did today with our jaguar, Manny. I remember stopping by during my after hour runs through the zoo last summer to find him waiting for me to hang out with him for me to catch my breath. It is really cool to see how he is in training action. He is very intelligent and fast to grab his reward for a correct command. Even though today I had to watch, I hope at some point this summer that I can work with him as well. J

First day!

First Night

After a tough, late night drive through a storm, I finally made it to Omaha for another summer at the zoo.  Starting bright and early at 7 AM tomorrow, I will start my first day in the Big Cat/Bear/Komodo Dragon Complex. I am very eager to see what waits for me. J

Greetings from Omaha! UW-Platteville is in town!