Tbilisi Zoo welcomes newborn deer and leopards from France

Tbilisi Zoo is welcoming the arrival of two endangered leopards and a newborn fawn.

The two leopards are a father and son duo and were gifted from a zoo in France, while the fawn was born to a deer that already lived in the zoo.

Tbilisi Zoo announced the new arrivals on its Facebook page today.

The Zoo said the newborn fawn was pale brown in colour with lots of spots covering its body. The Zoo said the newborn was "healthy and doing well”.

Tbilisi Zoo is welcoming the birth of this fawn. Photo by Tbilisi Zoo.

"The fawn is very beautiful with long legs, pointed ears and a white spotted fur like a starry sky,” said Tbilisi Zoo on its Facebook page.

The Zoo also welcomed two endangered Persian Leopards this week; eight-year-old father Eduard and his two-year-old son Salami. The animals were gifted from French Zoo Le Parc des Felins.

The animals are also called Caucasian Leopards and are regarded as endangered.

This leopard in camouflage was gifted to Tbilisi Zoo from an animal facility in Paris, France. Photo by Tbilisi Zoo.

Tbilisi Zoo noted fewer than 871–1,290 mature individuals remained around the world and the species showed a declining population trend.

The last time a Caucasian Leopard was seen in Georgia was in 2003 at the Vashlovani National Park in eastern Georgia by the Nakresi organization. The leopard was named Neo and was seen on camera traps several times over a seven-month period.

After several sightings Neo disappeared, and neither he nor other leopards have been seen since.

Tbilisi Zoo emphasized it would get involved in a breeding project to help grow the population numbers of the Caucasian Leopard.

Caucasian Leopards are the largest leopard subspecies and are native to northern Iran, eastern Turkey, the Caucasus mountains, southern Turkmenistan and parts of western Afghanistan.