Take a Look at the Newest Members of the Nyíregyháza Zoo

The four-week-old North Chinese leopard cubs of the Sóstó Zoo in Nyíregyháza, eastern Hungary, have had their first medical examination.

The parents, living in the zoo under the European Endangered Species Programmes, have been a pair since last summer. The seven-year-old male came from Germany and the three-year-old female from France.

The offspring, born after 102 days of gestation, are now four weeks old and have just undergone their first ever veterinary check-up, including vaccination, sex identification, vermifuge, and body weight measurement. The leopard cubs endured the examination heroically and it has been revealed that one male and two females have been added to the Nyíregyháza Zoo’s big cat population.

This subspecies of leopard (Panthera parduc japonensis) is critically endangered in the wild, so it is important that zoos keep this cat species in a closed space. In the world there are 54 of this rare subspecies in zoos and with the newborn cubs, there are now five of them in Nyíregyháza.

Less than 500 of the North Chinese leopards live in their natural habitat in eastern Russia and northern China. It is one of the northernmost and largest subspecies of leopard.

Featured photo via MTI/Balázs Attila