Visitors to the Greenville Zoo can finally see the zoo’s Amur leopard cubs up close. Born April 29th, the siblings – one male and one female – are now old enough to be on exhibit.
Zoo staff is planning to hold a naming contest for the cubs (details TBA), with proceeds going to the Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance (ALTA), a coalition of 15 international and Russian non-governmental organizations working to support conservation of Amur leopards and tigers in the wild.
The cubs are the first offspring for Jade, the zoo’s seven-year-old female and Nelkan, an 11-year-old male that was imported from Zoo Hoyerswerda in Berlin, Germany as part of the Amur Leopard Species Survival Plan (SSP). Jade was transferred to the Greenville Zoo in 2011 from the Potawatomi Zoo in South Bend, Indiana. Nelkan was imported and transferred to the Greenville Zoo specifically to breed with Jade. He arrived at the zoo in November and the two were introduced on January 18.
As a critically endangered species, the cubs’ birth is an important success for the Greenville Zoo’s conservation efforts and the SSP, as it will introduce another bloodline into the North American population.