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Three snow leopards born in Basel, one of whom didn’t survive

Two snow leopard cubs
The two surviving leopard cubs have been named Vakaris and Vishal. Keystone-SDA

Three snow leopard cubs were born at Basel Zoo in early summer. One of them, however, did not survive more than two months.

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The young female cub Vaya suffered from a malformation of the acetabulum, a bone in the pelvic girdle located on the hip.

Born in June, Vaya’s growth was stunted compared to that of her two littermates. She had a dysfunctional gait in her hind legs, which she dragged under her belly, Basel Zoo reported on Wednesday.

This phenomenon normally ceases a few weeks after birth, but this was not the case with Vaya, who died on August 23. Her autopsy is currently underway.

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The two surviving leopard cubs have been named Vakaris and Vishal. The latter had to have an operation on an eyelid. Like his brother, he is now back in good health. This is the second litter for the snow leopard pair formed by Rangi and Mekong.

Translated from French by DeepL/ts

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