A 15-year-old female leopard, Babli, died because of age-related complications inside the Delhi National Zoological Park. The death was reported on Wednesday after samples were collected during the postmortem examination. The reports are being sent to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute for further analysis.
Zoo director, Dr Snjeet Kumar, told media that the leopard was undergoing treatment for the last two days. “Babli was brought from Nandanvan in Chhattisgarh in 2018 and had lived more than the average lifespan of wild leopards, which typically ranges between 10 to 12 years,” said Dr Kumar.
The Big Cat
The Delhi zoo houses two male leopards, aged around 15 and 13 years and a female leopard, aged around eight years.
In an average life cycle of a leopard, the young ones begin to follow their mothers on hunts from three months after their birth. These animals are adaptive to a variety of habitats, ranging from rainforest to steppe, including arid areas as well. The opportunistic predator mostly hunts ungulates and primates. Listed in the vulnerable category on the IUCN red list, leopard populations are currently threatened because of habitat loss and a range of other problems, including human-animal conflict.
