Rare Leopard birth raises hopes for species on the brink of extinction

Marwell Zoological Park is celebrating the birth of an endangered Amur leopard. With less than 35 remaining in the wild, Amur leopards are one of the rarest big cats in the world. The female cub was born on the 18th November 2007 as part of a European conservation breeding programme to help save the species from extinction.

Amur leopards used to roam a wide area, living in the forests and mountains of Russia, Korea and China. Over the last few years their range has become smaller and smaller and they now only live in the Far East of Russia. The Amur leopard, like most big cats, has suffered due to trophy hunters and poachers killing them for their beautiful fur coats and for their bones for the wildlife trade - leopard bones can be passed off as tiger bones for use in Chinese medicine. Other major reasons include loss of habitat and depletion of their prey species due competition with humans.

The conservation charity is marking the birth by inviting the general public to help name the new female cub. To vote for a name go to Marwell's website: www.marwell.org.uk. The names to choose from are:

Sofia
From 'Sofia Alexeevna', Ruler of Russia 1682 - 1689

Tatiana
From 'Tatiana Romanova' - Bond girl in From Russia with Love. From Greek meaning organiser or founder.

Maya
From 'Maya Plisetskaya' - Russian ballet dancer

Zhanna
Russian girl's name meaning 'Grace'

Kiska
Russian girl's name meaning 'Pure'

Marwell's resident Research Programme Manager, Heidi Mitchell is carrying out work to better understand big cat reproduction in captivity and believes that the extremely small wild population size makes the species vulnerable for two reasons: "Such a small wild population means that the species is extremely vulnerable to "catastrophes" such as fire or disease. Secondly, inbreeding also threatens their viability as this can lead to genetic problems including reduced fertility"

Heidi continues: "Because of these risks to the current wild leopards, planning is under way for an ambitious project to reintroduce these big cats to the wild to form a second population in an area that was formerly part of their natural range."

Sarah Christie of the Zoological Society of London, species co-ordinator for the Amur leopard European breeding programme, adds: "As well as breeding for reintroduction, zoos in Europe and America are funding vital antipoaching, firefighting, education and survey work. There is no question that without zoo support, the Amur leopard would be a lot worse off than it is today."

The cub is available to adopt. Adopters will receive an exciting adoption package which includes: a certificate with a picture of an Amur leopard, an animal fact sheet, 1 admission ticket to the park, a copy of Marwell News and their name will be featured on our adoptions 'Thank You' board for everyone to see! The package costs £50.

The cub was born to Marwell's resident adults, Mum, Ascha and Dad, Akin


www.marwell.org.uk