DES MOINES, Iowa — For the first time since 2017, the Blank Park Zoo will be home to a snow leopard.
MJ, a 7-year-old snow leopard, comes to Des Moines from the Bronx Zoo under the recommendation of the Species Survival Plan.
"MJ is a typical snow leopard," said Jay Tetzloff, chief animal officer at Blank Park Zoo, in a press release. "He is very cautious about his new space, so there will be times you will not see him outside until he gets comfortable with his surroundings.”
The Blank Park Zoo was previously home to snow leopards. However, in 2017, the snow leopard habitat was converted to an additional lion habitat when a litter of lion cubs was born. The snow leopards moved to a different zoo.
Now that the lion cubs have grown up and moved to different locations, the zoo can once again house a snow leopard.
Snow leopards typically live in the mountains of central and south Asia. In 2017, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources published a report categorizing snow leopards as "vulnerable" — a step down from "endangered".
Given snow leopards' solitary, elusive nature and camouflaging abilities, it remains difficult for researchers to know how many snow leopards exist in natural habitats.
Blank Park Zoo partners with the Snow Leopard Trust, an organization dedicated to protecting snow leopards in the wild through conservation projects.