For my Speculative Futures: Biodesign class with Professor Jiabao Li (UT AUSTIN). I was prompted to research a species from the Rescate Wildfire Center in Costa Rica and create a design for their enrichment. The design constraint was to use all natural materials. The species I decided to study was the Leopardus wiedii, also commonly known as the margay cat.
To begin, I had compiled some research around margay cats such as their size, senses, behavioral habits, etc. I wanted to make sure that I understood the needs of my species at full scale, and in order to do that I needed to familiarize myself with the species and put myself into the animal’s perspective to bridge empathy.
https://app.pitch.com/app/presentation/4103d836-bfc9-4ed5-804c-827327f47471/1914248d-ddca-4675-8fa5-e2fccfd1dec5
After collecting research, I was particularly drawn to their reproductive habits. Margay cats need special conditions to be met in order to reproduce, and on top of that since they have such small litters, their population density is low putting them at risk for endangerment. So my question is: How do we raise the population density of margay cats?
A concept I was wondering on what this concept of human housing. In our world, humans are at the top of the ecosystem, giving them more control over the outlook of our Earth. As we expanded civilization we found that we have needs that need to met such as food, water, shelter, safety, etc. As we progressed as a species, we exploited and even put other species in danger by taking resources from their environments. The least we could do is repay these species by working towards preserving their lives (at minimum) and idealistically we should enrich these creatures lives as much as possible. Humans possess so much intellect and skill capacity, and if we aim towards making a more ecocentric, empathetic, and compassionate world. This led me to think about animal’s habitats, and how humanity can help animals build a safe space.
For the case of margay cats, I was wondering if I could build them a habitat or a nesting space to provide the cats with a comfortable space to not only live and sleep, but a space that they could raise their young and protect them from outside predators.
<aside> 💡 Since Margays are such small cats... and they are arboreal... and they don’t seem to mind human interaction (in the sake of infrastructure) too much... Why can’t we build them nests?
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https://www.researchgate.net/publication/356913972/figure/fig2/AS:1099341750124544@1639114906012/A-H-Baya-Weaver-nest-building-stages.jpg
Researchers at Durham University, the British Trust for Ornithology and Princeton University examined the relationship between nest design and the length of time offspring spend in the nest before fledging across species of weaverbirds and icterids, two bird families renowned for their complex woven nests.
They found that species building the most elaborate nests, particularly those with long entrance tunnels, produce offspring with longer developmental periods. Nests with longer entrance tunnels are more effective at hindering access by nest invaders than shorter tunnels and thereby limits the exposure of developing offspring to nest invaders.
Jain, C. B. T., By, C., & Jain, T. (2022, December 21). New Study finds birds build hanging-nests to protect offspring from nest invaders. QNewsHub. https://qnewshub.com/science/new-study-finds-birds-build-hanging-nests-to-protect-offspring-from-nest-invaders/
