Persian leopard triplets born at Russian reintroduction center

The three cubs are the second set of triplets born at the center, bringing the total number of birthed cubs since 2013 to 11.

Brooks Hays

Newborn triplet Persian leopard cubs nurse with their mother at a breeding and reintroduction center in Sochi. Photo by Russian Federation Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology/WWF

A Persian leopard at a reintroduction center in Russia has given birth to triplets, the World Wildlife Fund announced in a news release this week.

The reintroduction center at Sochi National Park on the Crimean Peninsula was established to train leopard cubs born in captivity for life in the wild.

Persian leopards have not existed in the Western Caucasus in Southern Russia for the last century, but conservationists hope to repopulate the area.

"As soon as the little ones leave the den, they will enter a period of serious training for independent life in the wild," Natalia Dronova, species coordinator with WWF-Russia, said in the news release.
The three cubs are the second set of triplets born at the center, bringing the total number of birthed cubs since 2013 to 11.
The first set of cubs to graduate from the training program are scheduled to be reintroduced to the wild later this summer. Caretakers hope the newest cubs will follow the same path.
"We hope that they will successfully pass all exams and will get into the second group of young leopards that will be released in 2018," Dronova said.

The cubs are currently nursing in their mother's den; their genders won't be determined for a few weeks, when they will be examined by veterinarians and given vaccinations. Meanwhile, the center's caretakers will monitor the cubs via surveillance cameras.