He has yet to be named, but the adorable 17-pound snow leopard cub born this spring at the Bronx Zoo is now on display for patrons to see, the New York Times reports.
The first son of the oprhaned snow leopard Leo, whose parents were killed in Pakistan in 2005 before he was brought to the zoo, the new cub is the result of hard work and diligence from zoo officials, as endangered snow leopards are notoriously difficult to breed in captivity. Though Leo's first attempt at reproducing was not successful, when he was paired with leopard Maya, the match went off without a hitch and resulted in her pregnancy.
Leo was sent to the Bronx Zoo from Pakistan in 2006 because the country lacked an "appropriate facility" to house the big cat the time, according to Nadeem Hotiana, the press attaché at the Pakistani embassy in Washington.
"While Leo is on loan to the Bronx Zoo, we hope that his presence in the United States and ongoing bilateral cooperation on conservation efforts will help deepen the links between the people of Pakistan and the United States," Richard G. Olson, the United States ambassador to Pakistan, said in a statement.
Leo's new baby cub was born on April 9, and zoo officials have been waiting to make sure he is healthy and well-adjusted before putting him and his mother Maya on display to the publlic. Athough the cub is still nursing, he has started eating solid food such as raw chicken and seems to be adapting well to his exhibit.
"We let the mother do all the work," Lacy Martin, a senior wild animal keeper, told the New York Times. "She's doing an excellent job, so there's no reason to interfere. He's gotten much more brave and has a lot of spunk."
The Bronx Zoo was the first in North America to exhibit snow leopards, having bred over 70 of them since 1903. Currently the zoo has 10 snow leopards in its collection, "a sizable fraction of the total of 137 snow leopards in accredited zoos in North America," the New York Times reports.
"Right now that cub's whole world revolves around its mother," Dr. Thomas, a member of the team that traveled to retrieve Leo from the Naltar Valley in Pakistan in 2006, told the New York Times. "He relies on her for food and companionship."
In the wild, however, snow leopard fathers don't stick around to parent their cubs, so Leo lives in a separate enclosure at the zoo in the same Himalayan Highlands exhibit.
"It's heartening to learn that Leo had his own cub, a male, this summer. Leo has served as a symbol of deep friendship and abiding good will between our two countries," Dr. Asad M. Khan, Pakistan's chargé d'affaires in Washington, said in a statement.
Click here to see photos of the snow leopard cub and his mother Maya at the Bronx Zoo.
