Photo: Annika Sorjonen / Korkeasaari Zoo
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The Korkeasaari Zoo is celebrating the birth of its first manul kitten. At two months old, the kitten is already confidently exploring its surroundings indoors and gradually venturing outside. The manul, also known as the Pallas’s cat, hails from Asia and is recognized for its thick fur and stern expression.
The behavior of the four-year-old female manul changed in June when she began spending a lot of time in her nest box.
Upon closer inspection of the box, a single kitten was discovered. The expectation of reproduction was anticipated, as the young manul pair first met in spring and engaged in multiple matings.
The two-month-old kitten, a female weighing half a kilogram, received a deworming treatment and an identification microchip during a recent veterinary examination. Efforts are being made to protect the kitten from toxoplasma, a parasite that poses a danger, especially to manul kittens under four months old.
“Observing the manul kitten, you can see it following its mother and playing with the food she brings, which is practice for the transition from milk to solid food. Through our cameras, we’re tracking how the kitten darts around indoors and even cautiously peeks into the outdoor enclosure,” shares animal keeper Jonne Stenroth.
The mother manul originates from the Chemnitz Zoo in Germany and moved to Korkeasaari last fall, where she settled into the newly renovated manul enclosure. This spring, she was introduced to a one-year-old male manul from the Budapest Zoo. Manuls are solitary animals, so the male and female share the same enclosure only during mating periods. The male resides in Kissalaakso’s back enclosure, away from visitor view.
While the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) categorizes the manul as a species of “least concern,” their numbers in the wild have been declining. These cats inhabit the vast and harsh grasslands and mountain steppes of Central Asia. Manuls are part of European zoos’ conservation programs aimed at safeguarding their future. Korkeasaari Zoo contributes to the protection of wild manuls during this year’s “Night of the Cats.”
HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
