The new big new cat in town is a rare Amur leopard named Tamur who can be seen at the Santa Barbara Zoo. Sometimes. The 5-year-old male has access to the public and private areas of his enclosure and apparently is favoring the private section.
Tamur (pronounced tuh-MOOR) came to Santa Barbara in late April from the San Diego Zoo, where he was born, and is being housed in the former enclosure of Ajax and Marta, the mother-daughter pair of Amur leopards who were moved to zoos in the Midwest recently. The birth of Marta in 2021 was historic for Santa Barbara, as she was the first Amur leopard born at the zoo in 20 years.
These leopards are named for a river that forms part of the border between China and Russia, which indicates their historic range from the Korean Peninsula in the east to Manchuria in China’s west. Fewer than 100 Amur leopards are believed to be in the wild, where they face threats like poaching for their beautiful spotted coats, wildfires, encroaching development, and inbreeding.
Ajax, now at the Nashville Zoo, is considered to be one of the most genetically valuable Amur leopards in North America. She was born in 2014 at the Marwell Zoo in Hampshire, England, and her genes were new to this continent when she arrived to Santa Barbara in 2016. Her daughter, Marta, now at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo in Illinois, is the offspring of Ajax and Kasha, who was born around 2010 at a zoo in France, and went to the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, before coming to Santa Barbara in 2020. He was moved to the Potawatomi Zoo in Indiana in 2023 but died there last June.
About 200 of the critically endangered Amur leopards now live in “managed human care” and are a focus of the Accredited Zoo Association’s Species Survival Plan, which seeks to keep a genetically diverse and healthy Amur leopard population through a managed breeding program.
“Welcoming Tamur is a powerful reminder of the critical conservation work we do here every day,” said Dr. Julia Barnes, who is vice president of Animal Care and head veterinarian at the zoo. “Every animal move is carefully planned with the future of the species in mind, and we’re proud to play a role in helping ensure their survival.”
Tamur is currently a solo cat in the enclosure, and it will be up to the Zoo Association’s species planners to determine whether to add a mate for him in Santa Barbara. He was brought to Santa Barbara with the help of Marta Holsman Babson and Henrietta Holsman Fore, who have sponsored a number of the Amur leopards. The zoo also has public sponsorships available through its foster feeder program, which helps with animal food costs.
