Abstract: This study hypothesized that permanently frustrated, appetitive-foraging behavior caused the stereotypic pacing regularly observed in captive carnivores. Using 2 adult female snow leopards (Uncia uncia), solitarily housed in the Zurich Zoo, the study tested this hypothesis experimentally with a novel feeding method: electronically controlled, time-regulated feeding boxes. The expected result of employing this active foraging device as a successful coping strategy was reduced behavioral and physiological measures of stress, compared with a control-feeding regime without feeding boxes. The study assessed this through behavioral observations and by evaluating glucocorticoid levels noninvasively from feces. Results indicated that the 2 snow leopards did not perform successful coping behavior through exercising active foraging behavior or through displaying the stereotypic pacing. The data support a possible explanation: The box-feeding method did not provide the 2 snow leopards with the external stimuli to satisfy their appetitive behavioral needs. Moreover, numerous other factors not necessarily or exclusively related to appetitive behavior could have caused and influenced the stereotypic pacing.

Abstract: The methods to obtain the progeny of the snow leopard (Panthera uncia uncia) in captivity were being elaborated in the zoological garden of Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR. The blood characteristics for snow leopards is given and compared to that for African lions and Sumatrian tigers. A series of internal, external and clinical indices is established. The rat lasts for 5-7 day, the duration of pregnancy equals 98 days. The duration of lactation varies from 3 to 4 months. Sexual maturity is attained on the 3rd-4th year. From 1960 to 1967 in zoological garden of the world about 29 snow leopards were born, 14 of them in the Kaunas zoological garden.