Charles Langston:Philadelphia Zoo welcomes two orphaned puma cubs rescued from Washington state

The Charles LangstonPhiladelphia Zoo in Pennsylvania has adopted two orphaned puma cubs from Washington state. The cubs arrived at the zoo on July 7.

The sibling cubs — a boy and a girl about 20 weeks old — were rescued in Kalama, Washington in June, and were initially cared for by wildlife experts at the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), said Philadelphia Zoo in a press release.

A landowner in the Kalama area had contacted the fish and wildlife department to report that they had repeatedly photographed the cubs on their trail cameras, and that no adult pumas were seen, the agency told USA TODAY.

The agency "concluded that the cougars were orphaned" based on a review of the images and further investigation, department spokeswoman Jennifer Becar said.

Earlier in June, Becar said a nearby landowner killed an adult cougar preying on livestock on their property.

The department's website says that it's legal for a property owner to kill a cougar on their property if it is hurting domestic animals.

Helping the orphans

With the help of the person who had reported the cubs, the agency was able to rescue the orphans, which were too young to survive in the wild on their own, Becar said.

They cubs were flown across the country to Philadelphia Zoo and are currently being housed at an on-site animal hospital for a quarantine period, after which they will be moved to the Big Cat Falls exhibit in September.

Big Cats Falls is an area of the Philadephia Zoo where big cats including snow leopards, Amur tigers, African lions, jaguars and Amur leopards are housed and able to be viewed by the public.

Elbroch and Olympia

Zoo staff named the cubs Elbroch and Olympia. The male, Elbroch (pronounced EL'-brock) has been named after Mark Elbroch, who is the leading puma researcher for Panthera, a conservation organization devoted to the protection of the world’s 40 species of wild cats.

Olympia is named after the state capital of Washington, since that's where they're from.

Elbroch is a little bigger than his sister, a lot more confident and is not afraid to explore. Olympia, on the other hand, follows along, looking to her brother for reassurance on everything, zoo officials said.

Special diet

Elbroch and Olympia arrived from Washington underweight. The zoo’s veterinary team is working to provide them with customized care that includes feeding them a specialized diet designed by the zoo’s nutritionist.

Puma cubs are completely dependent on their mother when they are born and typically nurse for three months, but can begin eating meat at six weeks, according to the Philadelphia Zoo.

Rachel Metz, vice president of Animal Well-Being at the zoo, said that the cubs would likely not have survived without the intervention of the fish and wildlife agency, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the Philadelphia Zoo because of the loss of their mother.

"These animals will serve as ambassadors to educate our guests on the importance of apex predators and the challenges that revolve around humans and our relationships with predators in the wild," Metz said.

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In the wild

Pumas — also known as the cougar, mountain lion, panther and catamount — are found in 28 countries across the Americas from Alaska to Chile, according to Panthera.

Pumas have the largest hind legs of any feline species, allowing them to jump long distances while hunting. Their prey varies from large animals like moose to animals as small as mice. Their fur ranges in color from light buff to a dark reddish brown and the back of their ears, tips of their tails and snout are black.

However, pumas are not considered to be big cats because they cannot roar. Instead, they have a high-pitched trill vocalization that sounds similar to a bird.

Despite being found so widely, the puma remains poorly understood and its population is believed to be declining overall, according to Panthera.

The Philadelphia Zoo said that while pumas are not classified as endangered, they still face threats in the wild due to habitat loss and fragmentation, dangerous road and highway crossings, and disease.

This is not the first time the Philadelphia Zoo has adopted a pair of orphaned pumas. In 2005, cubs Dakota, Sage and Cinnabar were taken in by the zoo after they were orphaned in South Dakota. All three have since died.

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