I subscribe to a monthly email from the Snow Leopard Trust, and this month they had an article in it about some of the snow leopards at Woodland Park Zoo. The Trust is located in Seattle, so it's pretty cool that WPZ has some snow leopards so close by. They conducted an interview with one of the snow leopard trainers and I thought it was really interesting reading about his experiences as a trainer. Click here for the full story, or read an excerpt below:

Standing at the glass of the snow leopard exhibit at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo (WPZ) you might see Nadia, the zoo’s female snow leopard, tossing a big round cantaloupe in the air, rolling it, batting it, rubbing on it, and finally—the grand finale – eating it all up! What a treat—for cat and visitor. What you most likely won’t see is the man behind all that excitement, WPZ’s snow leopard keeper James Scott. To find out more about the lives of snow leopards in zoos, and the humans who care for these beautiful cats, Trust Conservation Program Coordinator Jennifer Snell Rullman recently interviewed James about his work.

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Q. What are some of the fun, unique things you have had a chance to observe about snow leopards and their behavior?

A. They are great jumpers of course. The coolest thing I have seen is when they leap into the air and “helicopter.” I’ve seen this when we give them a particular fun scent for enrichment and they get excited and jump into the air and do a circle like a helicopter blade!

Q. You said you give them a scent for enrichment, can you tell us more about what that means?

A. Well, as keepers we are of course concerned with making sure the cats’ physical needs are met. But we are also doing more and more to make sure their behavioral needs are met—mental and emotional needs, providing more stimulation. So, we do different things for them. When the elk at the zoo shed their antlers, we collect the velvet from them and give it to the cats. They rub all over it, toss it around, and get really spacey and playful just like a cat with catnip. Eventually they eat the velvet. And yes, they like catnip too, and react just like your average house cat, but bigger. We also give them other spices like nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, and coffee—they love them. One of Nadia’s favorite things is when I give her a whole cantaloupe. And of course, now she is very “enriched” by Tom, the new arrival.

Q. Do you have any great memories or stories about snow leopards that you can share with us?

A. Well, there are many, but it is hard to beat the memory of being there when the three baby snow leopards were born to Nadia. We let her raise them, but it is our policy here to socialize the cubs a lot to the presence of humans so we can monitor them more easily. They were so small, fitting into the palm of my hand—and Nadia let us easily take them out to hold them, weigh them, check them all over. Once they were about 6 months old I remember this day when we were still going in with them and one of the babies started stalking me. I could see her, but she thought she was invisible, and stalked me until she was under a bush and when I came near she pounced! So cute. Another thing I remember that was so amazing to watch was when they would be playing on the rocks and they would fall off—falling down the rocks! But instead of tumbling or bouncing down the rocks, they would go limp and then flow like water. It was so amazing….and I really wish I had taken the time to videotape it.