CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Cuteness alert! There is a new addition at Brookfield Zoo.
While Brookfield Zoo has been temporarily closed to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an Amur leopard cub was born on March 3.
The male cub, named Sasha, is currently behind the scenes bonding with his mom, Lisa. Animal care staff estimate Sasha will be able to have access to his outdoor habitat sometime in June.
According to the zoo, this is the third litter for 9-year-old Lisa, and the sire, 9-year-old Kasha. Previous births included Temur, in 2016 and twin brothers, Jilin and Samson in 2018.
The naming of Sasha was one of the auction items offered in the Chicago Zoological Society’s Virtu-Whirl fundraiser, which was held last week. Members of the Society’s Women’s Board won the bid to name the cub.
CZS, which manages the zoo, wanted to share some video of the playful cub. A camera that was placed in an animal-proof box, seemed to pique Sasha’s curiosity. The nearly 2-month-old cub can be seen playing with a rock, when he notices the box with the camera inside. Sasha tries to get at the camera and is even seen licking the screen at one point. He truly likes to put on a show for viewers and curious just like all babies.
According to Brookfield Zoo, the Amur leopard is critically endangered with less than 65 animals left in the wild. Threats to the species include poaching, retribution hunting, loss of habitat due to logging and human settlement, and loss of prey. Their entire estimated range is about 965 square miles. Today, they are only found in one isolated population in the Russian Far East, although there may be a few individuals in the Jilin Province of northeast China. The zoo said, they are the northernmost subspecies of leopard in the world and are often mistaken for snow leopards. Amur leopards live in temperate forests with cold winters and hot summers, and typically rest in trees and dense vegetation or among the rocks during the day.