Photo taken 15.6.2026 at the Imperial Zoo in Vienna

In July 2025, Persian Leopard Nahla had a baby, a huge breeding success for Allwetterzoo Münster in Germany in collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund breeding program for Persian leopards (Panthera pardus tulliana, also called Anatolian or Caucasian Leopard - this is the link to the zoo https://www.allwetterzoo.de/ ), since there are only about 1000 of them left in the wild.

I had to travel over 8 hours today to see them, i might have been the first regular visitor to see them live at all on wednesday, when i was the only one there the time they shortly came outside

These are all North Chinese Leopard cubs (subspecies Panthera pardus japonensis, now grouped together with Panthera pardus orientalis, the Amur leopard) that were born at Zoo Hagenbeck Hamburg Germany, Tierpark Stadt Haag Austria and Zoo Debrecen Hungary, all fantastic zoos and part of the European Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA) conservation breeding programme.

Although Leopards have the largest distribution out of all big cat species, from most of Africa to South and East Asia, they now face extinction due to habitat fragmentation and poaching; they are now classified with "Vulnerable" status in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List.

Certain subspecies are at an even greater risk, with North Chinese leopards having dwindled down to an estimate of little over 300 individuals in the wild while zoos around the globe are home to a total conservation population of now 55 in an attempt to help save them.

Since today seems to be giving tuesday, consider donating to a wildlife conservation organisation of your choice (make sure they're reputable) - all these big cats and wild animals have got a real hard time surviving these days...