A critically endangered Amur leopard, which lives naturally in southeastern Russia and northeastern China, has gone on display at the Kansas City Zoo, in Kansas City, Mo.
The 10-year-year-old leopard, named Natalia, according to a report in the Kansas City Star, lived at the Roosevelt Park Zoo in Minot, North Dakota, until the facility flooded about two years ago.
Since then, the rare cat's been residing at Tanganyika Wildlife Park near Wichita.
Zoo director Randy Wisthoff says the he and his staff would "gladly" welcome a male Amur if one could be found in the next couple years, because Natalia has given birth before and could live another 10 years.
Data supplied by Arkive.org indicates the Amur leopards that survive today are under "extreme risk of extinction...Genetic variation is low in small populations and they are extremely vulnerable to any chance event such as an epidemic or large wild fire."
The cats are also in great demand for their coats and bones, the latter of which are used in traditional Chinese medicine.
When Kansas City's senior African leopard died a few months ago, zoo officials decided they wanted his replacement to be a species more in need of conservation, the Star report continued.
The head of the organization that manages the captive leopard population in North America agreed to transfer Natalia to Kansas City, where her new digs are in the African jungle section near the gorilla exhibit.
"We decided not to stay geographically pure," Wisthoff said. "It is more important for people to understand the plight of an animal that is critically endangered than to worry about having an Asian animal in Africa."
The Kansas City Star report says there are 76 Amur leopards in animal parks accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums --- with 48 paired for potential breeding.
A male suitable for breeding is not currently available, but Kansas City Zoo officials hope that one will become available. Natalia, who is genetically pure, has had a cub. Amur leopards in captivity can live to be about 20.
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