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By Vicki Croke, Globe Staff, 06/24/2000

"Snow leopards inhabit some of the most remote and highest ranges on earth," writes George B. Schaller in "Wildlife of the Tibetan Steppe." "Their luxuriant smoke-gray coats with black rosettes and their long, lush tails are evocative of snow and immense solitudes. Rare and elusive, the cat has become symbolic of the wildness and wilderness of central Asia's mountains."

Schaller, perhaps the leading naturalist of our time, is also the researcher Peter Matthiessen traveled to Tibet with in the acclaimed "The

Snow Leopard." Panthera uncia is so elusive, Matthiessen wrote, that "in years of searching, [Schaller] has seen but two adults and one cub."

Clearly, if you scramble around rugged Tibet, you may end up never seeing a cat, only its footprints and feces. But if you live in New England, there's an easier route. Route 28.

You could motor out to the Stone Zoo in Stoneham, and spy four of these creatures in a matter of minutes. And even though those creamy spotted coats serve well as camouflage against the gray rock of their exhibit, you'll see them as soon as your eyes adjust.

Snow leopards are arguably the handsomest cats, with thick creamy/gray coats; delicate black markings; well-muscled, densely furred tails used as ballast; pale, haunting eyes; an "eye-spot" marking behind each ear; and short faces that make them look like people cast as cats. Their paws are heavily furred and enormous. And snow leopards are among the best leapers of the mammal world. Though they generally weigh about 100 pounds, they can kill animals three times that size. They tend to be solitary. But we are still trying to puzzle out the social lives of these ghosts of the mountains.

To watch them for any length of time is a relatively amazing opportunity - and one that won't last forever here. The grouping at Stone Zoo is made up of an adult female, Tang, and her three one-year-old cubs - Ki, a male, and sisters Aya and Tiga. In the wild, the offspring would disperse at about a year. In captivity, Tang isn't going to put up with them forever, either.

"This is a good-size exhibit [52 feet from front to back, and three stories high], but there's going to be a space crunch," says Pete Costello, assistant curator at the zoo. Tang will let the staff know when she wants the cubs to leave, he says.

In the meantime, Costello is trying to open up "psychological space" in this wedged-shaped exhibit that is mostly upright cliff. That means giving the cats things to do and think about.

They love to rip into pumpkins and squash, and to bat around bowling pins. Strange scents really pique their curiosity. The soiled shavings from the exhibits of prey animals are to roll in. Areas marked with cologne are for rubbing on. And fur brushed out of llamas, or feathers dropped from birds make for scintillating sniffing.

While the leopards often watch cars on the nearby roadway, they pay particular attention to other animals in sight. "Tang will squeeze down flat," Costello says, "to stalk a dog going by" on the sidewalk along the zoo's perimeter. And the cats are always interested in their next-door neighbors, the markhors.

Markhors, magnificent spiral horned wild goats, are among the natural prey animals (along with blue sheep, marmots, ibex, and sometimes livestock) for snow leopards.

The details of their diet have been worked out by scientists through that field biologist staple: dung analysis. Here's what Schaller had to say about the snow leopard's menu in two areas: "In the Tomur Feng Reserve, where marmots do not occur, all 19 droppings consisted wholly of ibex; in our Mongolia study area the content of 22 droppings was 63% ibex, 18% marmot, 3% domestic yak, and the rest vegetation."

You don't have to pick through droppings to discover that the Stone Zoo leopards eat a cat chow of sorts - Nebraska feline meat, and also beef bones.

These four cats are part of a larger community. There are an estimated 4,500 to 7,350 snow leopards alive in the wild. And the cubs will be distributed to other zoos who participate in the Species Survival Plan run by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association.

The snow leopards are a marvel to see, but the Stone Zoo exhibits won't bowl you over in quality or quantity. On the plus side, the awful old buildings of the past have been torn down, and there is a softer, more natural feel to the grounds. And you can also see ring-tailed lemurs, Mexican wolves, Chilean flamingoes, snowy owls, llamas, eagles, arctic fox, and reindeer at the 30-acre site.

Stone Zoo is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends and holidays. Admission is $6; $4 for children; and $5 for seniors. Call 781-438-5100 for more information.

This story ran on page F01 of the Boston Globe on 6/24/2000.
© Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company.