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In this study, cauda epididymal sperm were collected from Amur leopard cats with various causes of death as well as Tsushima leopard cats that underwent castration surgery, and sperm quality was compared with that in domestic cats. A sufficient number of sperm similar to those in domestic cats could be collected from the cauda epididymis of Amur leopard cats. However, in old leopard cats, no or very few cauda epididymal sperm were recovered, although there were no differences in sperm motility and sperm abnormality. There were no significant differences in sperm quality immediately after collection and after freezing-thawing of cauda epididymal sperm compared with corresponding estimates in domestic cats.

It has been suggested that the locomotive needs of zoo animals are not always satisfied in captive conditions. However, these reasons for movement and locomotion differ among species. This study investigated the locomotive motivation of captive lions, which are regarded as having relatively low motivation to move compared to other zoo animals. Four Indian lions including 1 noncastrated male and 3 females were observed as subject animals. Two captive conditions were set as experimental days: 1 was a confined condition in a bed chamber all day long (confined day); another was a released condition, with access to the exhibition area during daytime (released day). The observation periods were also defined as "daytime" (9:00-16:00) and "nighttime" (16:30-9:00 of the next morning). We counted the lions' behavior repertories and recorded their maintenance, social, reproductive, and abnormal pacing behavior of 24 hours each day 5 times from the beginning of August to the end of November. Results show no difference in the numbers of behavior repertories between the released and confined days (χ 2 = 0.084, NS), suggesting that the conditions in this zoo might be sufficient for captive lions to express various behavior repertories. However, the maintenance behavior percentages were significantly different when confined and released days were compared (daytime, χ 2 = 19.17, P 2 = 13.06, P 2 = 3.94, P