The Kansas City Zoo has acquired a rare Amur leopard named Natalia after the10-year-old cat was transferred from a wildlife reserve near Wichita, Kans.
Amurs, native to Russian Far East, are considered critically engendered. There may only be 40 or so of the cats alive in the wild.
The Kansas City Star reports that Amurs are "under extreme risk of extinction." Primary causes of Amur's population decline include habitat depletion, prey, demand for the leopard's coat and its bones, which are valued as an ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine.
The Kansas City Zoo reports that only 38 out of 230 American zoos with Associations of Zoos and Aquariums accredidation have Amur leopards on display.
Natalia, who at 10-years-old is middle aged, has reportedly born a cub before. There are no suitable males available to mate her with at the moment, the Star reports, but Kansas City Zoo officials hope one will become available at some point. A captive Amur is expected to live about 20 years.
"If we could locate a male in the next couple of years, we would gladly take it," Kansas City Zoo director Randy Wisthoff said to the Star.
The zoo has Natalia on display in its "African jungle" section, which is not exactly geographically accurate, but 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."
Natalia spent and earlier part of her life at the Roosevelt Park Zoo in Minot, N.D., but had to be moved due to a flood at the zoo in 2011. Before arriving at the Kansas City Zoo the leopard was at Tanganyika Wildlife Park in central Kansas.