The Philadelphia Zoo has a pair of new residents with the arrival of two endangered felines that can now be seen inside their habitats at Big Cat Falls.
Female Amur tiger Rory and male Amur leopard Rafferty arrived as part of the Zoo’s species survival breeding program, which aims to manage populations of threatened, endangered and other species across AZA institutions to maintain long-term genetic and demographic viability to protect species from extinction.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists Amur tigers as endangered, with an estimated wild population of less than 500, while Amur leopards are listed as critically endangered, with an estimated population of less than 150.
They will be matched with pairs in hopes of increasing the endangered populations of both species. Rory, born at the Toledo Zoo in 2021, has joined Wiz and Dimitri, brothers, in the Zoo’s tiger habitat. Meanwhile, Rafferty, born at Utah’s Hogle Zoo in 2017, has been paired with resident leopard Kira.
“As a facility accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, one of our most important roles is to protect endangered species from extinction,” said Rachel Metz, Vice President of Animal Wellbeing and Conservation. “We are excited to welcome these two beautiful big cats to their new home and are equally excited for our guests to meet them. Our animal care professionals are diligently working to get to know the cats and their personalities, and are also closely monitoring for signs the cats are ready to be introduced to their mates. We are keeping our fingers crossed that we will welcome cubs in the coming years.”
This isn’t the first time the Philadelphia Zoo has attempted to breed these two endangered species — they’ve actually done so twice successfully. In 2017, an Amur tiger named Koosaka gave birth to a cub named Zoya, who would go on to live at the Oklahoma City Zoo and eventually have two litters of her own at Roosevelt Park Zoo in North Dakota. The Zoo also welcomed two female Amur leopard cubs born in 2000 and 2002. The Zoo now has four Amur tigers after the addition of 4-year-old Rory and two Amur leopards with the addition of 8-year-old Rafferty.
Guests can see all cats housed at the Philadelphia Zoo, including African lions Makini and Tajiri, puma siblings Elbroch and Olympia, and snow leopards Yuki and Marcy, on rotation through the different habitats during daily feedings or training sessions inside Big Cat Falls and the Big Cat Crossing Zoo360 trail.
For more information, visit philadelphiazoo.org
