The Mysterious Manuls of Kraków Zoo: the manuls who totally manul-napped us!
💙 Meet Czyngis (en. Genghis) — a serious Polish heartthrob, grandson of the great matriarchs Lastochka and Rosa!
Czyngis is five years old. He was born at the Lyon Zoo in France, and two years ago he moved to Kraków Zoo, where he’s been living ever since.
Earlier he was likely called Otto, but now he has officially changed his name to Czyngis — in honor of the founder and first Great Khan of the Mongol Empire — Genghis Khan 😎
From the very 1️⃣-st day of vigil by the enclosure, it became clear why there are so few photos of him available online — Czyngis is a true manul-introvert. He prefers solitude over worldly fuss and public life, cozily curled into a fluffy, sleepy tuft inside his house or a tube-den.
The zoo staff say that Genghis is quite impulsive and not very friendly by nature little fluffball 😈
💖 And who is his mysterious fluffy bride?
Meet the young and charming Italian manulady — one of the daughters of Fellini and Altana from the Parco Faunistico La Torbiera — named Tsas.
She got her beautiful name at her home zoo (hooray! For the first time ever, manuls at La Torbiera were given names!). In Mongolian, Tsas means “snow.”
Tsas moved to Kraków Zoo last autumn and has been living together with Chingis in the same enclosure for about a month now — each in their own house.
At the moment, Tsas, like her groom, spends daytime hours loafing peacefully inside her house.
At the moment, Tsas, like her groom, spends daytime hours loafing peacefully inside her house.
The zoo staff describe her as a fragile and shy little girl.
On the 2️⃣-nd day we realized: this little one is also a sly-mastermind à-la Altay from Izhevsk Zoo! As soon as birdsong gives way to twilight and the zoo closes, a well-rested, self-satisfied Tsas emerges from her house ☺️
But the moment she notices she’s been spotted — whoosh! — she runs straight back inside the house!
And on the 3️⃣-rd day of our stay, the zoo — nestled on a hill in the magical Wolski Forest — was swallowed by thick, mystical fog. Let’s be honest: sleeping in a cozy house in weather like that is extra sweet! 😴
Let's face the truth — the fluffy Kraków duo completely manul-napped us. We only managed to see both of them for a few moments, so this time we can’t boast great photos.
Let this be a call to action for all manul pilgrims of the world: visit Kraków Zoo to capture the fluffy manul grail in a photo! ✨
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Krakow Zoo for its hospitality and to the curator of the carnivore collection, Ewa Banasz, for her time, the fascinating conversation, and the valuable information about the Pallas's cats in our care.
We extend our deepest thanks to Kraków Zoo for their warm hospitality, and to the Curator of Carnivores, Ewa Banaś, for her time, an incredibly fascinating conversation, and information about manuls at Kraków Zoo ❤️
We will definitely be back!
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