June 2009

Meet the snow leopard matchmaker

June 25, 2009 Snow leopards in Zoos

I had a good chat with Matt West today at Healesville Sanctuary which is part of Zoos Victoria / Melbourne Zoo. Matt’s claim to fame (one of them anyway) is that he’s the matchmaker for Snow Leopard breeding in Australian and New Zealand Zoos. As keeper of the Australasian Snow Leopard Studbook it’s his job [...]

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Hot and cold cats at new snow leopard exhibit Central Park Zoo

June 22, 2009 Snow leopards in Zoos

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8iGxmjRrdc&hl=en&fs=1&] Chocolate and Zoe strut their stuff at the brand new $10 m Allison Maher Stern Snow Leopard exhibit. Hot and cold rocks, scent enrichments, waterfalls, jungle, tree ropes, hiding food tidbits and more. This must be one of the most rich snow leopard environments in any zoo. If we must continue to have snow [...]

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Snow leopards take Manhattan

June 22, 2009 Snow leopards in Zoos

Last week three elusive snow leopards were seen for the first time in Central Park, New York. Central Park Zoo that is, with its brand new Allison Maher Stern Snow Leopard Exhibit. The three cats were named by school children, and are two females, Zoe and Chocolate, and one male, Bo. The exhibit must be [...]

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First snow leopard sighting in Kashmir in 10 years

June 22, 2009 India

“It was the shortest seven minutes of my life” Aishwarya Maheshwari, a researcher with WWF India (a wildlife protection group) said after making the first confirmed sighting of a snow leopard in Kashmir in over 10 years. The region has seen a decade of political conflict and fighting between India and its neighbor, Pakistan. Maheshwari [...]

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Wild snow leopard released

June 11, 2009 China

A female snow leopard was released back into the wild in northwest China this week after receiving care for a respiratory tract infection. She hesitated a few seconds after the cage was opened, then rushed to the woods without looking back at the people in the wildlife protection group who had taken care of her [...]

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Snow leopards and "gross national happiness"

June 10, 2009 Bhutan

Bhutan is the tiny Himalayan kingdom east of Nepal and south of China, that invented the idea of “gross national happiness” being as important as “gross national product. With a population of  only 600,000 (mainly Buddhists), the country’s mountains are excellent habitat for the endangered snow leopard. I visited Bhutan recently and spoke to many [...]

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Interview at Melbourne Zoo on the older snow leopards

June 5, 2009 Snow leopards in Zoos

  Here’s an interview I did recently with Adrian “Howie” Howard, Senior Carnivore Keeper at Melbourne Zoo. He’s talking about the two old snow leopards. “Simbu and Gregor, our two snow leopards that were together for 15 years. They obviously formed a bond over the years, and looked for one another and spent time together. [...]

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What's for breakfast? And the cubs' favorite is….

June 4, 2009 Snow leopards in Zoos

Tashi and Gobi at Melbourne Zoo get fed a range of food now that they are fully weaned (which happened at about 4 months according to Senior Carnivore Keeper Howie.) The other day he put a number of rabbits into their area and Meo, mum, got to them first but as soon as the cubs ran [...]

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Update on Melbourne Zoo cubs

June 4, 2009 Snow leopards in Zoos

I had coffee with a couple of the Zoo staff again yesterday and looked in on the snow leopards as usual. I wasn’t expecting much action from them in the middle of the day and sure enough they were all very quiet. Shimbu, the grand old dame, was fast asleep amongst the rocks. It was [...]

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Snow Leopards on endangered Red List

June 4, 2009 Endangered species

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is the world’s most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species. It is the list which ranks the status of each species on the basis of many criteria and helps governments, conservation agencies, the public and policy makers  understand how urgently action is [...]

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