Edinburgh Zoo welcomes male Pallas’s cat as part of breeding programme

Arriving at the zoo as part of a breeding programme, Akiko will be joined by a female Pallas’s cat in the coming months with keepers hoping they will have kittens. The species faces various threats in the wild including habitat loss, loss of preferred prey and predation by domestic dogs.

Andrew Laing, senior animal keeper at Edinburgh Zoo, said: “We are thrilled to have Pallas’s cats at the zoo again and are looking forward to having a breeding pair soon that will hopefully help boost the population of the species.

Akiko will be joined by another pallas's cat at Edinburgh Zoo in the coming months | RZSS

“Akiko has been settling in well to his new home and we are looking forward to bringing in a mate for him in the next few months.”

Pallas’s cats’ secretive nature and the remoteness of their habitat make them difficult to study and they are amongst the least known wild cat species in the world.

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), the wildlife charity that runs Edinburgh Zoo, has also managed the European breeding program and studbook for the species for over 15 years. In that time the RZSS the global conservation project PICA (Pallas's cat International Conservation Alliance) alongside project partners Nordens Ark and Snow Leopard Trust.

Akiko is one of several new arrivals at the zoo in recent weeks, with Oberon the zebra and an adorable baby red panda having joined its animals.

For information you can visit the Edinburgh Zoo website.