THE SNOW LEOPARDS For the first time in more than a decade, three Snow Leopard cubs have been born at Melbourne Zoo. We find out how the cubs are getting on.
A
WORDS Anna Webster
new baby is something to be celebrated, but it’s especially exciting when the new additions are as precious as the three Snow Leopard cubs that arrived in the early hours of 26 January at Melbourne Zoo. Now approaching their first birthday, the cubs have settled into their home and are growing bigger and braver with each passing month.
Miska and Kang-Ju’s story
Miska, the cubs’ mother, was brought to Melbourne Zoo in October 2017 from South Lakes Safari Zoo in Cumbria, England, as part of the European Endangered Species Programmes (EEP). The move was specifically arranged so she could breed with the cubs’ father Kang-Ju, who came to Melbourne at around the same time from Nürnberg Zoo in Germany. Both Miska and Kang-Ju were quite young when they first arrived in Melbourne and had never been paired with other Snow Leopards for breeding, so the team moved quite slowly through the process, says Keeper Meryl McGlone. Meryl and the rest of the Carnivores team at Melbourne Zoo began with what they call ‘soft intros’, where the cats were placed in neighbouring exhibits separated by mesh. They couldn’t make physical contact, but they could see, smell and respond to each other. Snow Leopards mate in spring, and in September last year Miska started showing signs of
All grown up The first time the Keepers were able to properly meet and handle the cubs was at their first health check when they were eight weeks old. At this eight-week check-up, the Keepers gave the cubs their first vaccinations; inserted microchips; checked to make sure their eyes, ears and the rest of their parts had developed properly; and confirmed which cubs were male and which were female. Now weighing approximately 20 kilos each, the cubs are about three quarters of the size of a fully-grown adult Snow Leopard. Keepers have begun recall training with the cubs using a bell and delicious food treats. By teaching the ability to recall, keepers can easily move the Snow Leopards to different areas within their home (such as where they sleep at night) without interfering with the animals – Miska will respond at any time of day to these requests but the cubs currently require a little food to tempt them.
ZOONEWS MEMBER MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2020 • 5
