Leopard encounter
NG Kids travels to Marwell Zoo, in Hampshire, to meet its new Amur leopard cub, Kiska, and talks to deputy head carnivore keeper, Marc Fox, about how the zoo cares for their big cats… NG Kids: Hi Marc. Kiska is so cute and it's brilliant that such a rare big cat, the Amur leopard, has been born at Marwell…
Marc Fox: I know! We're all so pleased. The Amur is one of the world's most endangered animals, so every cub born in so important. Sadly, because of poaching for their fur and bones – which are used in Chinese medicine – and habitat destruction, there may now only be 30 of these leopards left in the wild.
NGK: Tell us about Kiska – what's she like?
MF: She's a typical leopard cub - inquisitive and mischievous! She follows her mum around jumping all over her and biting her tail, but she's very nervous around humans.
NGK: Did her mum and dad both live here at Marwell?
MF: Kiska's mum, Ascha, has lived here for around five years – she came to us from the Cotswold Wildlife Park. And her dad, Akin, came from Slovakia. We bring cats together when the female is ready to mate and have cubs – and this time, it worked!
NGK: What's Kiska's life been like so far?
MF: For the first 12 weeks she was kept inside the den with her mother. Just like our pet cats, Kiska needed to have vaccinations before it was safe for her to be outside. She was on her mother's milk until then, too. Then she started to eat little bits of meat.
MF: She was 6.5kg at 12 weeks old, which is the first time we went in to handle her. But when she's fully grown, she could weigh 70kg!
NGK: Why can't you handle her before 12 weeks?
MF: Because it could affect the bond with her mum. If humans get too close, it could make her mum feel insecure and she could abandon the cub – or even kill it.
NGK: In the wild, the Amur leopard would roam over a large distance. How do you keep big cats like these happy in the captivity of a zoo?
MF: We try to make their enclosures as natural as possible, with lots of trees they can climb. Amur leopards live in mountainous areas in far-east Russia, so we put in lots of rocks and places for the leopards to hide.
NGK: What do the leopards eat?
MF: Mainly red meat - around 2-3kg a day. But we don't feed them at all on two days every week, as this is what would happen in the wild, when they would be hunting their own food.
NGK: How can you tell an Amur leopard from other leopards?
MF: They're the biggest with the thickest coats, as they live in colder areas. But like all leopards, they can be unpredictable. The snow leopards we have at the zoo are much calmer and friendlier, but I wouldn't trust an Amur!
NGK: Will you go in their enclosure?
MF: Definitely not! We wouldn't need to take the risk anyway because we don't have to. We only go into the enclosure when they're shut in the den, but I'd fancy my chances much more with a snow leopard than an Amur!
To find out more about the Amur leopard, go to www.amur-leopard.org. See this month's NG Kids magazine for your chance to adopt Kiska!