Brooklyn Zoo Plays Matchmaker For Rare Pallas's Cats

PROSPECT PARK, BROOKLYN -- If you thought herding cats was hard, try getting them to date.

That's the task facing keepers at the Prospect Park Zoo, where rare and "near threatened" Pallas's cats will be bred as part of a multiple zoo initiative to help the Mongolian species survive, zoo representatives announced last week.

“Pallas’s cats are not common in U.S. zoos,” said Denise McClean, Director of the Prospect Park Zoo. "Our work to breed these cats will be pivotal to their conservation."

To this end, the zoo has begun two 3-year-old cats named Batu, a male from Krakow, and Sarnai, a female from Helsinki, in hopes that the pair with hit it off in their new rocky Brooklyn habitat.

The small cats — known for their “grumpy” faces which inspired their Greek name, Otocolobus Manul, or “ugly-eared” — have already begun avoiding one another, according to Prospect Park zoo blogger Ashley Sawyer.

"[Batu] be seen interacting with children from the window of the exhibit that faces an indoor classroom and vocalizing at his keepers," Sawyer writes. "[Sarnai] prefers to watch from a distance."

Pallas’s cats, which look like domestics but with thicker coats and flatter heads, are currently at risk from hunters who sell their organs for traditional medicines and are often caught in traps set for larger predators, zoo officials said.

As any cat owner can tell you, getting the two cats do what their keepers want will not be easy.

"There is only a short window of time where females are receptive," zoo officials stated. "Keepers will need to watch closely for subtle behavioral signals in the weeks leading up to their breeding season to ensure they male and female have access to each other at the right time."

This game of cat-and-other cat will occur in 18 Association of Zoos and Aquariums participating in the Species Survival Plan for 42 Pallas’s cats, according to a press release.

Brooklynites can try to take a peek at the wintery felines on exhibit outside the Hall of Animals building or on the Animal Planet series "The Zoo" on Feb. 10, when the Pallas’s cat exhibit will be featured on the show.

Photos courtesy of Julie Larsen Maher © WCS