So much cuteness
Making their debut recently at the Philadelphia Zoo were snow leopard cubs Kimti and Dian, born to Maya, the Zoo’s 3-year-old female snow leopard and Amga the Zoo’s 5- year-old male snow leopard
on Thursday, June 9th. This is the first litter for both cats. The cubs are the first snow leopards ever born at the Philadelphia Zoo and in the First Niagara Big Cat Falls exhibit,
continuing the Zoo’s successful breeding of big cats.
The
cub’s debut was slightly delayed because they had minor surgery to
correct
eyelid abnormalities. In this condition, called an upper eyelid
coloboma, a portion of the upper eyelid fails to develop properly,
leaving a gap at the edge of the eyelid which can lead to eye
irritation. The cause of this condition is not well understood,
but it occurs in a variety of animals and in humans, and appears to be
more common in snow leopards than in other species. The cubs have
otherwise developed well, playing, eating, running and jumping normally.
Each weigh approximately 28 pounds each.
Snow leopards have endangered status in the wild due to habitat
destruction, conflict with humans, and poaching.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home