IFP Exclusive

Endangered Persian Leopard Gets Pregnant via Natural Mating

A highly-endangered Persian leopard kept in Tehran’s Zoo has become pregnant through natural mating after an earlier artificial insemination attempt failed.

The female leopard, named Kija, got pregnant after natural mating with Gaspar, a male Persian leopard on loan from a Portuguese zoo.

The pregnancy came after a failed artificial insemination attempt by Iranian and German experts, which was made on February 7 at Tehran’s Zoo.

If Kija delivers her baby within a 100-day timeframe, the danger of extinction of this valuable species of leopard would be decreased.

Iman Memarian, the vet of the zoo of Tehran, told ISNA that “Gaspar has been brought to Tehran from Lisbon Zoo for artificial insemination with Kija.”

“After testing the sperms of Gaspar, it turned out that the leopard has a good sperm quality.”

Referring to Kija’s highly valuable genetics, he stressed, “For this reason, last year, Gaspar was sent to Iran to get Kija pregnant. We also took sperm from another Persian leopard for about three years and kept it in liquid nitrogen.”

Here you can see photos of the artificial insemination operation retrieved from ISNA:

IFP Editorial Staff

The IFP Editorial Staff is composed of dozens of skilled journalists, news-writers, and analysts whose works are edited and published by experienced editors specialized in Iran News. The editor of each IFP Service is responsible for the report published by the Iran Front Page (IFP) news website, and can be contacted through the ways mentioned in the "IFP Editorial Staff" section.

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