On May 28 a male snow leopard (Panthera uncia) named Tiksi celebrates his birthday. He is 4 years old!
Tiksi arrived at Mykolaiv Zoo on October 22, 2019 from the French Zoological and Botanical Park from the city Mulhouse. By nature our handsome birthday boy is proud and independent. The animal was transferred under the International Snow Leopard Breeding Program in Europe.
The snow leopard or ounce (Panthera uncia) is one of the alpine animals, that climbs on the highest places in comparison to other terrestrial species on our planet, it lives in the mountains of Central and South Asia. This unique animal is listed in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, as the number of this species is declining catastrophically, and now the snow leopard is among the endangered species. The beautiful color and value of their fur led to the fact that the animals became the coveted prey of poachers. In addition, the expansion of pastures in the highlands leads to the fact that the natural habitat of snow leopards is narrowing.
Female Tashi, who is already 7 years old, also lives in Mykolaiv Zoo. She was born on April 29, 2013 in Salzburg, Austria, and arrived at our zoo on May 10, 2015. Tashi is very inquisitive and communicative, she even likes when employees pet her ear during feeding.
Each snow leopard is fed three kilograms of meat once a day at the zoo. The menu of leopards includes beef, chicken and all kinds of offal (pork and chicken hearts and stomachs). And once a week they are given live food, and sometimes more often.
Mykolaiv Zoo participates in the International program of preservation of this species.
We invite everyone to take a walk to get acquainted with the snow leopards of our zoo and become the happiest of people, because in ancient times the people of Mongolia believed that only the happiest people were allowed to meet a snow leopard. Today you need to have a good deal of luck to meet this animal in the wild, so do not miss the opportunity to see this extremely beautiful animal in our zoo.
