If you're in need of some serious cuteness on this Monday afternoon, you're in luck: here's an adorable video of a pair of extremely rare leopard cubs play fighting.
The two cubs, which can be seen rolling over and gently pawing each other, were born to six-year-old female Amur leopard Freya and six-year-old male Sochi at Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo.
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The male and female cubs are currently six weeks old, and are living in the zoo's animal health care centre after being removed from their mum when she started displaying dangerous hyper grooming behaviours. There was also a third sibling that sadly had to be euthanised.
Amur leopards are critically endangered, meaning they face a high risk of extinction in the wild. Only 80 Amur leopards currently remain in the wild, with around 200 in human care around the world.
Because the population is at such a high risk, each birth is an extremely important event for the survival of the species. In 2018, only six Amur leopard cubs were born in the USA, with five surviving.
Both leopards are currently enjoying around the clock care from the veterinary staff at the zoo, including being hand-fed five times a day with a feline milk replacement formula that is supplemented with vitamins.
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The cute cubs, who currently weigh around two and a half kilos each, are clearly enjoying their stint in the animal health care centre if the video is anything to go by.
Another factor that makes the cubs even rarer is that the female has melanism, a condition in which the body produces an excess of black pigment.
The zoo has been posting unimaginably adorable pictures of the cubs since their birth, and in a few weeks' time, the public will be able to see the cubs up close. So, time to book a trip to Connecticut?
Featured Image Credit: Credit: Beardsley Zoo