Allwetter Zoo in Germany celebrated the birth of twin Asian Golden Cats on April 7, 2013. At last report, one was being nursed by the mother and the other was being cared for by keepers.
This was a very significant event as the cubs were conceived via artificial insemination (AI). Allwetter Zoo is calling this a world’s first for the species. AI has proven to be especially challenging in most wild cat breeds so every successful birth as a result of AI is a major achievement. AI has also been successful in other small wild cat species. The Cincinnati Zoo recently celebrated the birth of an Ocelot as a result of AI. Other assisted reproduction procedures such as embryo transfer and in vitro fertilization are also being researched and developed for use in endangered cat species.
Asian Golden Cats (Pardofelis temminchkii) are listed as “near threatened” on the IUCN Red List and as Appendix 1 of CITES (as Catopuma temminchkii). There are very few Asian Golden Cats in captivity and most are housed in zoos in Europe and the UK. The EAZA 2007/2008 EEP report on this species listed only 20 cats being housed in 8 European institutions on Dec 31, 2008. Some of these animals were thought to belong to the subspecies “tristis” and thus not as genetically valuable. The report also stated that there was a need for more successful breeding pairs to at least keep the captive population stable.
The future of this subspecies in captivity is uncertain but hopefully with each small success we are headed in the right direction.
Photo Credit Allwatter Zoo
Read more about these small cats on our fact sheet
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