Snow Leopards and Red Pandas at the Darjeeling Zoo

Study of the nutrition and reproduction of Snow Leopards and Red Pandas, by Dr Catherine Hauw

At the end of my 2nd year of veterinary school, I got the amazing opportunity to go and intern at the Padmaja Naidu Himalyan Zoological Park, Darjeeling Zoo, in India. I always wanted to go explore India, and I flew there to start my internship on the Nutrition and Reproduction of Snow Leopards and Red Pandas.

When I first arrived to Darjeeling, I was stunned. Located in the lesser Himalayas, the city is built at the bottom of the mountains and you can see colored houses everywhere. During my first days before the start of the internship, I was getting to know the city, and I got to walk around and enjoy the Himalayas views with a cup of Chai tea. I arrived during monsoon season, which was more than 80% of humidity in the air ! With rain on and off but still very warm, it was an amazing (and sticky !) atmosphere.

On my first day at the Zoo I got introduced to my internship director, Upashna Rai, a researcher studying Snow Leopards. She gave me a visit of the zoo, and explained to me their projects on the 10 different species to be reintroduced into the wild : the Snow Leopard, the Red Panda, the Himalayan Wolf, the Blue Sheep, the Himalayan Tahr, the Blood Pheasant, the Himalayan Monal, the Satyr Tragopan, the Himalayan Salamander and the Bhutan Grey Peacock Pheasant.

My project was to study the nutrition and the reproduction of both native species, and I will focus on the Snow Leopard one for this article, as I am a Big cat fan !

Snow Leopards’ nutrition

Every day I would get the chance to prepare and give the food to the Snow Leopards. As a vet student, my task was also to make sure everything was hygienic and the meat was fresh.

In its natural habitat, Snow Leopards needs 1,5kg of meat per day, and an adult Snow Leopard eats 20-30 blue sheeps annually. Slow leopards eat slowly, usually taking 3 to 4 days to consume a prey animal ! During that time, the cat remains near the kill site to defend the meal from scavengers like vultures and ravens, eating every few hours until the carcass is bare. In the nature, the Snow Leopard preys on Bharals, Markhors and Himalayan Tahr.

It took twenty years of experiments to the Darjeeling Zoo to be able to improve the given feed to the animals until it was an optimal food. In the nature, the Snow Leopard preys on Bharals, Markhors and Himalayan Tahr. The standardization at the Zoo was then done on what they actually like – Mutton, Beef and Chicken.

Snow Leopards’ breeding

During my internship, I analyzed the pregnancy on CCTV videos of one of our Snow Leopards, and its behaviour throughout its 3 months of gestation.

The Snow Leopard being a highly endangered cat of the high mountains, planned breeding in captivity is a major conservation step. The breeding program for Snow Leopards in Darjeeling Breeding Center was initiated in 1983.

The Snow Leopard Breeding Project at the Darjeeling Zoo is the only breeding program of the species in South East Asia. The center has today 8 Snow Leopards, one of the largest captive populations in the world.

In December estrus starts for Snow Leopards. When the mother is in a pick of estrus, we release a male and a female in the same enclosure from 7 am. Their behavior is analyzed, and we can see the female rolling frequently whilst the male raise his tail and sprinkles urine around. It has been reported that the Snow Leopards can copulate up to 46 times a day !

We then separate the two animals during the afternoon (when they still can look at each other) and bring them back together in the evening to mate again. The absence of estrus the next days is a sign of pregnancy, and the gestation period of a Snow Leopard is 96 days.

Because Darjeeling has a very humid environnement and Snow Leopards are used to the dry Himalayas, the Zoo installed dehumidifiers in the Breeding rooms, and a hygrometer to make sure the humidity appropriate for both the mum and cubs.

In conclusion, I had such an amazing time at the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park. Not to mention the great accommodation the zoo provided with amazing food made by their chefs every day, or the delicious momos of the Zoo cantine ! I would definitely recommend going to see this beautiful city and taking a tour of the Zoo, or going for a research program there !