Stop by Woodland Park Zoo to Visit Tom, the Snow Leopard
Regular readers here at The Seattle Traveler will already know that I’m a big animal lover, and the zoo is one of my favorite places to go. A new addition to the Woodland Park Zoo provided a real “aaaaaaah” moment — the arrival of a young male snow leopard named Tom.
Snow leopard are endangered, with zoos around the world developing breeding programs to help save the species.
When grown, they will stand about 2 feet tall and will be about six to seven feet in length. They weigh in anywhere from 60-140 pounds. Snow leopard are incredible leapers, and can leap up to 30 feet.
These powerful and majestic looking cats are recognizable by their thick grayish-yellow coat, with black spots (called rosettes) on their bodies. Their bellies are white, allowing them camouflage in the snow, and their large paws serve as snowshoes to help them navigate the wintry terrain of the native habitat. They don’t get cold, though, as their long tails are used as a muffler to help them keep their nose and throat from freezing. Take a look at that tail (photo at left) — it looks like would keep me warm!
Tom is now integrated into the Australasia Exhibit where he’s keeping Nadia, the 14 year old female snow leopard, great company. The zoo is looking for another young female snow leopard to bring in to mate with Tom. Let’s hope they find him that gal pal soon!
Stop by the zoo and pay Tom a visit. While you’re there you’ll notice lots of other exciting new additions to the zoo. I’ll have a post on the new flamingo exhibit later in the week.
Photo credit: wikimedia, face, tail
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Tags: animals, b5media, city blogs, destination blogs, seattle, Seattle attractions, Seattle tourism, Seattle travel, seattle-traveler, snow leopard, the-seattle-traveler, travel, vacation, Washington, Washington-State, Woodland Park Zoo, zoosRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Attractions, Family Fun, Lunch Hour Fun
SeattleFLOOD WARNING FOR KING COUNTY, SNOHOMISH COUNTY, WA UNTIL THU JAN 08 2009 07:45 AM PST°
1 opinion for Stop by Woodland Park Zoo to Visit Tom, the Snow Leopard
The Flamingos are Back at Woodland Park Zoo
Jun 6, 2008 at 4:29 pm
[...] new additions to the Woodland Park Zoo this spring. Earlier this week, I wrote about Tom, the new snow leopard. The other big zoo news is the new Chilean flamingo exhibit, a return of these delicate birds [...]
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