Sharjah: Tiny-framed Lubna got her last-minute ‘pedicure’ and full body check up on Tuesday before getting sent off for her “arranged marriage” with her mate-to-be, Hectar — a partnership their caretakers were excited about.
Lubna and Hectar are Arabian leopards that were carefully paired by experts at Al Bustan Zoological Centre, a privately owned zoo in Sharjah, and Al Ain Zoo. Both organisations aim to help save one of the most critically endangered species in the Arabian Peninsula, whose population now stands at less than 200.
“The genetics of the one that Al Ain’s Zoo has got [Hectar] and the one that we have [Lubna] seems promising as far as we know. So, this is an arranged marriage that has been made and hopefully we will have a few offsprings in the future,” Meyer de Kock, centre manager at Al Bustan, told Gulf News during the visit.
The institutions agreed to pair their Arabian leopards following an intensive six-month negotiation and preparation to ensure their genetic compatibility.
“As far as we can understand with the studies that have been done, the [wild] population is plummeting. And in the last five years, the decrease was quite dramatic. So there’s a lot of pressure on breeding institutions like Al Bustan and Al Ain Zoo, where we need to do captive breeding because our end goal for all the species is to reintroduce them into their natural habitat,” de Kock said.
Lubna was transferred from Al Bustan to Al Ain Zoo on Tuesday to start a three-year breeding programme at the zoo. The pair will be placed in two separate rooms with limited interactivity for the first seven to 10 days for “soft introduction” to see how they fare.
Caretakers of both animals said their hopes are high for the two and for the future of the species.
“Lubna is a little shy but I think Al Ain Zoo will be good for her. She’s in her prime now for babies. This is gonna be her first, so fingers crossed. We hope it’s gonna work,” said Rozaan de Kock, Carnivore Curator at Al Bustan.
Myyas Qarqaz, Animal Collection Manager at Al Ain Zoo, told Gulf News that Hectar has been alone at the zoo for a few years now due to the difficulty of finding a suitable mate for him because of the dwindling population of the species.
“We’ve been trying hard to get a nice wife for him. Hectar is a gentleman. He is usually quite calm as an animal; he’s friendly. He’s physically fit. So we really hope that he would be a good mate for Lubna and they will be a happy couple,” Qarqaz said.
Arabian leopards breed all year round and can have up to four offspring each time. If the pair has one cub, Al Ain Zoo gets to keep him. But if they have several, the cubs will be shared with Al Bustan to help their breeding programme with their remaining four Arabian leopards.
Once the two have adjusted to each other and have shown compatibility, Al Ain Zoo will release them at their exhibit centre for the public to see.
“The fact is that it is one of the most critically endangered species in the Arabian Peninsula, also it’s an icon for this part of the world, their number has declined significantly in the past decade due to hunting and deterioration of their natural habitat. Given all these facts, we are very excited to have this animal with us and start a conservation and breeding programme for this species,” Qarqaz said.
But this cooperation will not be the first. De Kock said both institutions are already discussing inter-zoo transfers of five or six species in the future to ensure survival of critically endangered species and maintain sustainability in the zoo environment within the UAE.
