Two new big cats are now on display at the Philadelphia Zoo as part of a breeding program that helps endangered species.
Rory, a 4-year-old female Amur tiger, and Rafferty, an 8-year-old male Amur leopard, joined the zoo’s Big Cat Falls habitat in the early summer. Both species are native to the Amur River Valley in Southern Russia and severely threatened by habitat loss and poachers, with only a few hundred left in the wild. They came to Philadelphia through recommendations from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan program.
Rafferty, who has two different colored eyes, was acquired as a mate for leopard Kira. He was born at the Hogle Zoo in Utah, but later moved to the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, New York, where he sired offspring in 2019…