The Great Big Cat Safari - Jaguarundi Captured~!

This is my first post in a while regarding my goal of collecting all of the cats from Goodwin's Animal Kingdom patch series.  In the interim since the last post the 2012 Goodwin set was released, and wouldn't you know it, there's a few more cats to get!

New cats for 2012:
AK-128 - Bobcat
AK-169 - Clouded Leopard
AK-178 - Siberian Tiger
AK-182 - Asiatic Lion


On the one hand - sweet, more cat cards!  On the other hand - ow, my poor wallet.....Note that most of those are in the higher rarities, so I don't know if I'll ever be able to get them.  But it's good to have dreams!  :)

Anyway, on to today's subject, and the newest addition to my collection, the Jaguarundi!









The Jaguarundi is native to Central and South America.  They are actually a fairly small cat, weighing just 8 to 20 pounds.  They are found in two colors called "phases" - either red or gray.  Jaguarundis are the least "cat-like" of all the cats.  Their long bodies and tails led to their nickname of the "otter cat."

Brothers from another mother?

Unlike many other cats, the Jaguarundi is most active during the day rather than at night.  They eat mainly smaller mammals, occasionally also going after rabbits and fish.  They seem to be even more shy and reclusive than most cats.  Jaguarundis are known for having a wide-range of vocalizations, including a bird-like chirp that you can hear in this video of two young Jaguarundis fighting over food (warning: don't have the speakers up too loud!)

Brother, can you spare $25,000?

It's been super busy here, so the ol' blog has been a little light the past few weeks.  I hope to change that in the near future, but until then enjoy this eBay listing I saw today. Daaaamn...........

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2011-Upper-Deck-Goodwin-Champions-Animal-Kingdom-Patch-Complete-100-Card-Set-WOW-/270927633564?pt=US_Baseball&hash=item3f148b9c9c

The Great Big Cat Safari - Ocelot Captured~!

About a month ago I announced the start of The Great Big Cat Safari - my quest to collect all of the cats in the 2011 UD Goodwin Animal Kingdom set.  I've added a page to track the collection (see the right side of the page), and today we are announcing the second addition to the set, the Ocelot!:

The Ocelot is found in South and Central America.  As you can see, they resemble a smaller version of the Jaguar, weighing between 18 and 40 pounds.  They are nocturnal and fiercely territorial, sometimes fighting to the death.  They frequently spend their days up in trees, that is of course until it is time to deliver death from above.  They dine on various small mammals, reptiles, birds and fish.  In captivity they can live as long as 20 years.

In addition to capturing the Ocelot, there was a recent Sabre-Toothed Cat sighting on eBay.  This is of course the rarest of all the cats, and I assumed it might be a bit pricey.  The list price on the auction? - $3,000 or best offer.  I'll let Geoff Peterson sum up my reaction.  Geoff?....

Thank you, Geoff.

Now I know that just because it is listed for $3000 doesn't mean that it's really worth that, but still, not a good sign for my chances of adding that one to the collection.

The Great Big Cat Safari Begins~!

I recently posted about how I stumbled across the Animal Kingdom patches from this year's UD Goodwin set and immediately fell in love with the cards.  What got me most excited as I went down the list was how many cats there were, as the big cats have always been my absolute favorite animals at the Zoo because they're just so badass.  I immediately decided that collecting all of the cats from the Animal Kingdom set would have to be the newest quest here on the blog.

A quick perusal of the list revealed that 10 of the 100 cards in the set were cats.  Unless of course one of those more obscure animals turned out to be of the feline persuasion, but what are the chances of that?....

Oh....so THAT'S what a Margay is.....

OK, make that ELEVEN cats on the list.

For those of you unfamiliar with the set, the rarity of the cards is determined by the endangeredness of the animal.  Here are the cats:

"Least Concern" Category:
AK-6 - Cougar
AK-11 - Ocelot
AK-24 - Jaguarundi

"Not Threatened" Category:
AK-62 - Sand Cat
AK-63 - Margay

"Vulnerable" Category:
AK-68 - Cheetah
AK-75 - African Lion

"Endangered" Category:
AK-81 - Snow Leopard
AK-82 - Bengal Tiger

"Extinct" Category:
AK-98 - Sabre-Toothed Cat

What's that you say?  That's only 10?  Well that's because today I am also revealing the first capture of the Big Cat Safari.  From the "Least Concern" Category, #AK-54 - the Eurasian Lynx~!









These tough mothas are native to the forests of Europe and Siberia, and also parts of South and East Asia.  They typically weigh 40-65 pounds, but the Siberian variety can get up to nearly 100 pounds.  They have a reddish-brown coat in the summer that grows thicker and turns silver-gray or silver-brown in the winter months.  They have webbed and furred paws that act like snowshoes, so you're totally screwed if you're trying to run through snow to get away from one.

So mark one off the list!  I'm not sure I'll ever be able to get all 11, as I don't know how many Sabre-Toothed Cats they even printed but I'm sure it is very few, but I hope to add as many as I can slowly over time as they show up on eBay at good prices.  Of course any of you reading this who might have one of the cats (or any of the Animal Kingdom cards, for that matter) can always hit me up for a trade!