Leopard cubs arrive after a spot of bother: [6 NSW Country Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 21 Dec 2005: 6.
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THEY may be the product of a rocky relationship but the 10-week- old snow leopards that made their public debut at Sydney's Taronga Zoo yesterday were showing no signs of stress.
The cubs -- a male and a female -- are the first to be bred in Sydney. [Leon] was transferred to Taronga from Nindorf Zoo in Germany and [Samarra] from Mulhouse Zoo in France to be the Australian zoo's new glamour breeding couple.
Male snow leopards typically have little involvement in the rearing of cubs, prompting zoo staff to separate Samarra and her offspring from Leon.
THEY may be the product of a rocky relationship but the 10-week- old snow leopards that made their public debut at Sydney's Taronga Zoo yesterday were showing no signs of stress.
Under the watchful eye of proud mother Samarra, the two cubs paraded happily before a bank of cameras while father Leon took a back seat in an adjacent enclosure.
The cubs -- a male and a female -- are the first to be bred in Sydney. Leon was transferred to Taronga from Nindorf Zoo in Germany and Samarra from Mulhouse Zoo in France to be the Australian zoo's new glamour breeding couple.
But it took the leopards two years to mate. Taronga chief executive Guy Cooper said yesterday the coupling almost didn't happen and described their early relationship as "like a Franco- Prussian standoff".
"They didn't want a bar of each other," he said. "To have them accept each other is a testament to the zoo staff's animal husbandry skills."
The snow leopard is regarded as the most beautiful of all the cat species because of its spotted grey fur and natural grace.
There are believed to be fewer than 4500 of the cats, which are rated as critically endangered, left in the wild.
A previous pair of snow leopards, which lived at the zoo from 1990 to 2003, failed to produce any offspring as a result of suspected fertility trouble.
In the wild, the animals range across two million square kilometres of some of the harshest terrain: the mountains of Central Asia, including Nepal, Tibet, China and Mongolia.
Snow leopards are hunted for their fur, for body parts used in traditional medicine and because they pose a threat to livestock.
Yesterday, the two cubs, who have yet to be named, took their first public appearance with good cheer. The twins have met their father only through a mesh barrier but zoo staff are happy with the family's progress.
Male snow leopards typically have little involvement in the rearing of cubs, prompting zoo staff to separate Samarra and her offspring from Leon.
Zookeeper Louise Ginmen said the "cute little bundles of fluff" were "extremely playful at this stage of their life".
However, as wild cats they could "get a little bit snarly".
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