The Woodland Park Zoo is holding a public poll through its website (click here,) to give the newly born, male snow leopard a name. The poll closes on Sunday, August 20th.
Snow leopards are an endangered species, native to the high mountain ranges of Central Asia and Russia, including Kyrgyzstan. On July 6th, Helen gave birth to a single cub, born of Dhirin. Now is time to give our new cub a name, and the Zoo has selected three possible Kyrgyzstani names as options:
- Aibek, means long-living (will live for many moons)
- Azat, means free
- Jakshy, means good
The new cub, and his mom, remain in an off-view maternity den to ensure proper nursing and bonding, while staff watch on closed-circuit monitoring. The Zoo anticipates putting the cub with Helen in the outdoor, on-view exhibit in late September. In the meantime, the Zoo’s blog and Facebook page have photos and information on the little guy.
The Zoo has been engaged in a partnership to protect and restore the Snow Leopard population since 1972. Under this partnership, 35 cubs have been born at the Zoo, helping diversify the genetic pool of the managed population. Our Woodland Park Zoo is helping to save animals and their habitats through more than 35 field projects in the Pacific Northwest, and around the world. The Zoo is making a difference in our planet’s future ecological health and sustainability.
Vote on-line, for the future name of the Snow Leopard cub, and visit him and the other critters at the Zoo soon. Find out about hours, and entrance fees, through the Zoo website.