Tallinn Zoo looking to name its snow leopard cub
Tallinn Zoo has announced a public name competition to find a name for its four-month old snow leopard cub.
The female cub was born in Tallinn Zoo on May 10 and has grown into a cheerful little leopard, whom visitors can now watch in the snow leopard enclosure or via a webcam.
However, she still lacks a name.
"Out little snow leopard deserves a nice and easy-to-pronounce name that is at the same time related to the snow leopards' natural habitat and way of life," the zoo explained.
People can submit their names until October 11 here.
The zoo will announce its favorite on October 24, when it celebrates the International Snow Leopard Day.
Snow leopard cub, born in Tallinn in May 2015 (Photo: Tallinn Zoo).
Tallinn Zoo has been keeping and breeding snow leopards since 1964.
Snow leopards are a very endangered feline species found on the mountains in Central Asia. The size of the population in nature is estimated at around 5,000-6,000 individuals but poaching has and continuous to be a serious threat to the animals.
To draw attention to the problem, 2015 has been designated the International Year of the Snow Leopard.
There are also approximately 600 animals in zoos around the world. In addition to the still nameless cub, Tallinn Zoo is home to her mother Deli, who moved to Estonia from Warsaw a year and a half ago, her Tallinn-born father Otto, and Otto's former love Mahnadi, for whom the zoo is hoping to soon find a new home abroad.
The zoo decided to replace French-born Mahnadi with Deli two years ago because Mahnadi lacks maternal instincts. After losing her first litter, the staff managed to save two of her three next cubs, Orlando and Mileedi. Unfortunately, her third and last litter again didn't survive because she failed to take care of them and the cubs died of hypothermia before the staff intervened.
After that, the zoo started looking for a new female to offer Otto, who quite unusually had tried to take care of the cubs himself, a compatible mate. And Deli has proved to be just that, bring up a nice little cub, who will hopefully soon find a name that matches her cheerful character.