Fluffy Kraków loaves!
Friends, we present to you another installment of historical manulization: today we will tell you about the fluffy pair of manuls, Erdene and Manuel, and their kittens, who lived at Kraków Zoo, and admire their rare archival photographs!
The fluffy, mysterious manulady Erdene is the daughter of the legendary Beebop and Alula from Highland Wildlife Park, and the sister of Pema, Rosa, Jethro, Boris, and other famous Pallas's cats.
And while this photo of Erdene has long been on the website, we are showing you a photo of Manuel here for the very first time!
❗️Attention! View with caution: this menul is very grumpy!
Manuel was born at Jihlava Zoo, though we still have yet to uncover his detailed pedigree.
Here are a few more rare photos of the mysterious Manuel that we managed to find
Manuel over the years: unfailingly handsome and grumpy
In 2016, Erdene and Manuel had four minuls: the well-known and beloved Zarina and Batu, as well as two boys whose names are currently unknown to us.
Here they are:
Kraków minuls, 2016
And in this photo, the Kraków loaves have already grown up and tried on their first-ever fluffy winter coats: Zarina is loafing at the bottom, Batu is at the upper left, and on the right is the brother who went to live at Košice Zoo 🥰
Later, all four went their separate ways to their new homes. Zarina went to Wrocław Zoo, one brother moved to Szeged Zoo, another to Košice Zoo, while Batu rolled across the ocean to America—to Prospect Park Zoo.
The grown-up Kraków loaves in their new homes:
The following year, in spring 2017, Erdene and Manuel once again had kittens: four fluffy sons.
About a year later, all four left together for Chester Zoo in the United Kingdom.
Chester was delighted with these new, fluffiest-in-the-world feline residents, and even featured them in the news!
But alas, the boys did not live long.
Erdene and Manuel, however, lived long Pallas's-cat lives at Kraków Zoo: Erdene for 10 years, and Manuel for 13!
Together, they left behind a great fluffy legacy. And this year, their pedigree gained its first great-great-grandson: Boris Ⅱ! 👏
Our heartfelt thanks to Kraków Zoo for the information and rare archival photographs! 🧡
Comments 12
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Manuel is a serious guy 😻. And those first kittens are such big-eared cuties—adorable 🤗🤗. Thank you, Vika and Roma, for your manul “excavations” 👏🔥
This is so awesome! Kraków zoo is the one who doesn't give much information on their social media, so these photos and description are true gems for me!
Julia, He’s seriously manul-like—his contempt can be felt right through the screen! 😹
Marlena S, Thank you so much, Marlena! 🧡 We did our best 😊 And we’re very glad you enjoyed it and found it interesting!
Vika Malyshkoverified_filled ,
You're doing a great job with all the research! I once tried to contact Opole zoo and ask about manuls they kept in the past but I got no reply 😔 Oh, and I can't wait for your article to find out more about Markiza 😀
Roma and Vika, heartfelt congratulations on your new trophy, on yet another victory over the impregnable fortresses of the manul archives. Methodically, day by day, carefully and tactfully, you are earning the trust of zoo archivists! 👏👏👏
Manuel 🔥🔥🔥, and three “buns” fresh from the “oven”—om nom nom 😋🥹😻
I knew Szeged zoo had manuls in the past, but did not know they had one until 2024, i missed out on visiting him 😭
Евгения Власова, Zhenya, thank you sooooo much!☺️
If everything works out (knock on wood ×3), we'll soon start working on another huge manul archive!🙏
And Krakow's Manuel was a real discovery for us—we think he was a very cool and charismatic manul! 🔥
Marlena S, Once again, thank you so much, Marlena!
Yeees, unfortunately, we know this situation too! Not every zoo wants/is willing to share information about the animals in its care, and sometimes obtaining any details at all—let alone archival photographs—is very, very difficult. We, too, periodically encounter a lack of responses and are sometimes upset by it, but we do not lose heart and continue our “historical excavations” step by step. So don’t be discouraged either! 😃
As far as we know, only one breeding pair of manuls lived in Opole: Pallu and a male from Kraków, Unnamed manul #587, whose name is unknown to us.
They had kittens more than once, but unfortunately, they did not survive 😔
Thank you so much for uploading photos of the minuls from Opole to the website! Wonderful and rare photos for all of us to remember them by and for manul history! ❤️
master_tailstepper, Oooooh, I know that feeling of a “missed manul” all too damn well! 🙌
Well, we can’t change that now, but we can visit those who are definitely alive today!
By the way, while preparing the material, I found some more videos of the manul from Szeged Zoo:
The manul there is sitting, apparently, in its favorite spot—up in a tree 😺
First of all, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PICTURES!! Baby Batu is so cute! My dear friend!!!
Thank you for the manul history lesson! I was so excited to realize Batu was on of the minuls! He certainly went on quite the journey!