The Fossil Record

Earth lights at night

NASA photo

Click on the image to see a bigger version!

A beautiful baby makes her debut

Photo by Gareth Fuller of the Associated Press

This very rare 14-week-old Amur leopard baby just came out of hiding on February 28 for the first time. Her mother, Ascha, is a resident of the Marwell Zoological Park in Winchester, England. She has been caring for her little girl quietly in her den since the baby cat was born.

The cub doesn't have a name yet--but if you visit the Marwell Zoo's website before March 19, you can vote on one for her! (I chose "Kiska," a Russian name that means "pure.")

The Amur leopard, Panthera pardus orientalis, is a Far Eastern subspecies of leopard. The cats inhabit regions of eastern Russia and northern China, and are known for their distinctively large spots, on coats that grow from about 2 centimeters long in the summer to about 7 centimeters long during the harsh winters of their homelands.

The Amur leopard, unfortunately, is also considered the most endangered big cat in the world. There are, by most counts, less than thirty-five of them left in the wild. Efforts to save the cats have now reached a crisis point.

That is why zoos have become so important in the conservation of this incredible species. There are more than 200 of these rare and beautiful creatures now being cared for in zoos around the world. Since their numbers have dwindled in their native habitats, the cats have not been successfully giving birth in the wild. Male cats left in the wild also outnumber the females almost four to one. When a new Amur leopard baby is born in a zoo, her life expectancy is quite a bit longer than it would have been otherwise. She won't be in danger there from habitat loss, deforestation, or poaching.

A new leopard baby typically stays with her mother for about two years before she becomes independent. Most female leopards have only one or two cubs per litter.

Learn more about the Amur leopard here.