Join Bhutan, our 13-year-old snow leopard, and his keepers for snow day enrichment and training! Learn about Bhutan’s personality, his favorite scent-masking seasoning, which husbandry behaviors he’s working on, and how Bhutan is contributing to the future of his species. Make sure your volume is up to hear Bhutan’s impressive growls during his training session.
Snow leopards’ wild populations are listed as ‘vulnerable,’ according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List. Bhutan’s genetics are extremely valuable to the Snow Leopard Species Survival Plan, but he prefers a life with plenty of his own space, so traditional breeding isn’t in his future. Bhutan’s sperm is valuable because he doesn’t have offspring and has an extremely high sperm count. His sperm has been collected and is kept in a ‘frozen zoo.’ If the need arises, conservationists can pair Bhutan with a genetically valuable female snow leopard without having to involve Bhutan.