An Ohio zoo just had its first-ever Amur leopard cub.
Eight pounds of extremely rare cat.
EIGHT POUNDS OF RARE CAT.
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo announced September 14 that its first-ever Amur leopard cub is a healthy male, a small but meaningful addition to the managed population of one of the world's rarest big cats.
WHAT HAPPENED
The cub was born July 1 to first-time parents Marta and Sylas. By the zoo's September 14 update he had grown from about one pound to more than eight pounds and was active and mobile. The zoo says the birth is its first for the species in 144 years and the first among Ohio zoos. It estimates fewer than 200 Amur leopards remain in the wild. The cub is part of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums Species Survival Plan.
WHY THIS IS HOPESLOP
Conservation is mostly unglamorous spreadsheets, habitat work and genetic planning. Occasionally the spreadsheet produces an eight-pound leopard. This birth does not rescue the wild population by itself, but it adds genetic diversity to the managed population and arrives attached to real conservation work.
ORIGINAL SOURCECleveland Metroparks ZooRead the original report
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