This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: June 17, 2008 - One of the St. Louis Zoo's newest attractions also happens to be among its most rare. Sofiya, a newborn Amur leopard, was born at the zoo May 10. She is one of an estimated 300 living in captivity worldwide. Even fewer of these leopards live in the wild -- less than 40, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
And that's what makes Sofiya so special, said the zoo's curator of mammals Steve Bircher.
"When you have a population this small, every birth is significant," Bircher said.
Also significant are the numbers of visitors the cub draws to her nursery inside the Emerson Children's Zoo. This is especially true at meal times, when dozens of children press their faces against the window of Sofiya's nursery to watch her down a bottle of Kitten Milk Replacer. Visitors this weekend got to watch as Sofiya was introduced to meat for the first time.
Zookeeper Anne Bartin is just as excited to take part in the cub's rearing as her audience is to watch.
"I have the privilege of helping take care" of Sofiya, Bartin said to an audience of mostly children and parents who had gathered to watch the 1:15 p.m. meal on Monday.
Sofiya is fed five meals a day by a select number of zookeepers like Bartin.
Zoo staff removed Sofiya from Big Cat Country shortly after her birth because they were concerned her mother was unable to care for her properly. This is a common problem, as many species of cat have difficulty nurturing their first litter, Bircher said. Sofiya will remain in her nursery in the Children's Zoo for at least four months before rejoining her parents in the main exhibit.
Sofiya's birth is the result of a "cooperative breeding effort" undertaken by members of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums as part of its species survival plan. Through the AZA, zoos make good pairings between animals in zoos across North America for the purpose of producing what Bircher calls "genetically diverse" offspring.
Sofiya's mother came to St. Louis from El Paso, Texas, in 2007 as a part of the program, as did her father from a Canadian zoo in 2006.
The AZA's close watch of the captive leopards' genetics might one day help restore the species' ever-shrinking population in its native habitat in Eastern Russia.
Of the many problems plaguing wild Amur leopards -- logging, poaching and human encroachment in their habitat, to name a few -- loss of genetic diversity is the most detrimental, Bircher said. The shrinking gene pool among the wild Amur leopards has the potential to lead to inbreeding and disease and weakens their defenses against epidemics.
Russian biologists are eyeing the genetic diversity of the captive leopard population as a possible means of widening the wild population's gene pool, Bircher said. One day, Sofiya's children -- or their offspring -- might be viable candidates for a reintroduction program.
One Tall Baby
It's a baby boom. The Zoo welcomed another new arrival Saturday, this time a baby giraffe. More than 400 visitors witnessed the birth of the 6-foot, 143-pound male calf.
Jessie, mother of the yet unnamed calf, was pregnant for 15 months.
Giraffe mothers are normally affectionate, though protective of their calves, said zoo spokeswoman Christy Childs. Jessie is no exception to the rule, often scaring away the curious ostriches that share the same exhibit, then turning and licking the calf the next moment.
As a male, the calf has the potential to grow to an adult height of 18 feet.
He can be seen outdoors with his mother in the Red Rocks section from 8 a.m.-7 p.m. The pair can be viewed in the Antelope House if weather conditions require they move inside.
Amanda King is an intern at the Beacon.