Snow leopard gives birth to three balls of fur at Zurich Zoo
Keystone-SDA
A snow leopard has given birth to three cubs at Zurich zoo.
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he two-month-old males are now starting to explore the Panthera enclosure. They don’t have names yet.
The snow leopards were born on 9 May in a specially equipped whelping box, Zurich Zoo announced on Thursday. At birth, they were still blind and deaf – but their coats were already marked with the typical dark rosettes and spots.
In the beginning, this was to protect them from predators so that they would not be spotted at a distance. Later, this colouring provides optimal camouflage when hunting in the high mountains of Central Asia.
In the meantime, the cubs are already two months old and independently exploring their habitat. For the time being, they are exploring the mountains. Over the next few weeks, they will be introduced to the three other areas of the habitat: deciduous forest and dry forest.
Sixteen metre leaps
The snow leopard, which can jump up to 16 metres, is an endangered species. According to Zurich Zoo, there are only around 3,000 sexually mature animals left in the wild today.
They are hunted for their particularly long and thick fur – the thickest of all cat species – as well as for various body parts that are used in traditional medicine.
To ensure that the snow leopard does not become extinct, offspring are needed as part of the European Conservation Breeding Programme. The internationally coordinated breeding programme maintains a stable reserve population.
Translated from German by DeepL/mga
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