We received thousands of votes on our online poll to name our male snow leopard cub and we can finally reveal that the winning name is ‘Kadhir’.

In June we celebrated the birth of snow leopard cub triplets. Not only was it great news for staff and guests to the park, it was also an important achievement for the conservation of these beautiful animals.

Our animal keepers named the two female cubs Kamala and Kitana but the public were asked to name the male youngster. More than 1400 people suggested names for the cub and the keepers were spoilt for choice. After much deliberating they picked the best five names and the public decided on their favourite.

We received just over 2500 votes and Kadhir won with 32 per cent, closely followed by Khan with 31 per cent of the votes!

Kadhir is a Hindu name meaning ‘ray of light’ and this little cub will certainly bring hope to this endangered species.

The three cubs live with their mum Irina and will be introduced to their dad Indeever within the next couple of months. The youngsters are delighting guests and staff with their playful behaviour.

Researchers estimate that there are between 4,080-6,590 (IUCN Red List) snow leopards left in the wild. No one has an exact count because snow leopards are so elusive and inhabit such harsh and remote habitat that they are rarely seen. Snow leopards, like all big cat species, are threatened in the wild. This means that maintaining a healthy captive population of snow leopards is of vital importance to the global conservation strategy for the species.

In the wild, snow leopards are distributed over a vast area including parts of Mongolia, USSR, China, Bhutan, N. India, Pakistan, Nepal and Afghanistan.

Photos©Kath Weston MPG

Check out this slideshow of stunning snow leopard cub pictures on our Flickr group.

 

Other things you might be interested in:

• Find out what's on at Marwell
• Adopt Irina and her snow leopard cubs
• Christmas at Marwell...be enchanted
• Book tickets and save 5%