Endangered snow leopard born at Idaho Falls Zoo

An endangered baby snow leopard is at the Idaho Falls Zoo. He was born in May and officially shown to the public on Friday .

The cub is now 8 weeks old, weighs 10 pounds and currently does not have a name.

The Idaho Falls Zoo is excited to have another birth of the critically endangered Asian species. It is one step toward the viability of a species that may soon be extinct. And the fact the little guy is male is a big deal.

“In our history at the Idaho Falls Zoo, we’ve had actually quite a few litters come. To this point, it’s always been all females, and unfortunately, the females are more desirable in the breeding population than the male, so we were happy to have all females up to this point. We love our male cub. He is going to be a big hit with the public,” said zoo keeper Dallas LaDucer.

The new cub will stay at the zoo for about another year and-a-half until he’s ready to be transferred to another zoo.

Snow leopards have been known to live for as long as 21 years in captivity.