For years Premia has been the godparent of the rare snow leopards in the Tallinn Zoo

Premia has taken two jolly leopard boys called Otto and Shelton and a leopard girl Mahnad under its care and sees to it that they have a pleasant life and food on the table.

In the wild nature the snow leopard is a very careful and lonely animal appearing and disappearing as it pleases so that only a few local people have seen the animal with their own eyes. Luckily all the people who are interested can visit snow leopards in their newly built home in the Tallinn Zoo.

Since summer 2009 the snow leopards have almost 800 square meters to move about and the place is similar to their natural habitat in the Himalayas. In addition to the private habitation area the complex located near the southern entrance includes also the exposition area which has been designed to resemble high mountains and the visitors can take a look at the area from the two observation terraces with glass windows.

The snow leopard or irbis (Uncia uncia) is a predator living in the high mountain ranges of Inner Asia. Its habitat is located at the area where the rocky scenery with scarce flora is surrounded by mountain tops and the air is clear and the sun is dazzling. At the border of perpetual snow, about 4 km high during summer and a couple of kilometres lower in the winter.

Snow leopards have adapted to high mountain living. They weigh 23-41 kg and their body length is 120-150 cm, of which the tail length is about 90 cm. The leopard has a stocky figure, thick fur, small and rounded ears - all of which help to minimise heat loss. Their paws are big and furry in order to enable better movement on the snow and heat preservation. Leopard’s tail is long and flexible in order to maintain their balance on unstable surfaces and it is covered with thick fur to keep warm while the leopard is asleep.
Today the irbis is a very rare animal. A hunting ban on snow leopards is valid in all countries of their habitation. Unfortunately too many snow leopards have been killed due to their valuable fur notwithstanding the international ban.
 
If you do not have enough time to visit the zoo, you can observe the activities of felines via the Interactive Zoo. Three cameras have been installed near the snow leopard, which enable to see what the animals are doing at the moment via live video.

You can follow the activities of the snow leopard from here.