NEW YORK: The Bronx Zoo in New York City is showing off its newest resident: a snow leopard cub.

The cub is the first son of an orphaned snow leopard from Pakistan. The cub's father, Leo was caught in Naltar village, 35km northwest of Gilgit by a local shepherd on July 12, 2005 and handed over to the Bronx Zoo in New York in 2006.

The New York Times says Leo was paired with Maya, a proven breeder, and the cub was born in April.

The baby is not yet named and went on view last week.

Snow leopards are among the world's most endangered large cats.

The Bronx Zoo was the first zoo in North America to exhibit snow leopards in 1903. It has bred more than 70 since then. The zoo currently has 10 snow leopards.

Nadeem Hotiana, the press attaché at the Pakistani embassy in Washington, said in a telephone interview that the country had decided to send Leo to the Bronx Zoo because Pakistan lacked an “appropriate facility” to care for the orphaned cub, The New York Time reported.

It also quoted Dr. Asad M. Khan, Pakistan’s chargé d’affaires in Washington as saying: “It’s heartening to learn that Leo had his own cub, a male, this summer. Leo has served as a symbol of deep friendship and abiding good will between our two countries.”