Bhagwan Birsa Biological Park in Ranchi can soon expect new guests.

A five-year-old leopard has conceived and is likely to give birth to cubs by the end of June if everything goes well.

The leopard Rani has mated with the black panther that was brought from a zoo in Assam two years ago.

Though the lockdown has held up confirmatory test, Rani is showing all the signs of pregnancy.

Birsa zoo director D. Venketeswarlu said there were currently three male and five female leopards, including the black panther, in the zoo.

After Rani gives birth, the number of leopards will reach double digit.

Rani has been put in a separate enclosure for her safety.

“It is a very heartening news for us. Cubs of big cats always become a centre of attraction for zoo visitors. We hope people will flock to the zoo to watch the cubs,” Venketeshwarlu told The Telegraph.

Zoo vet Ajay Kumar the zoo was yet to conduct a confirmatory test that could only be done in Hyderabad.

“For a confirmatory test, we will have to send Rani’s samples to a laboratory in Hyderabad. But we cannot do that because of the lockdown. We have isolated Rani because she is showing signs of pregnancy,” Kumar told The Telegraph.

According to the vet, a leopard’s gestation period is 105 days and it gives birth to one to three cubs at a time.

He said the zoo authority expected the cubs to be born by the end of June.

Last month, Ranchi zoo became the house for a baby elephant that was found wandering in the Porahat jungles of West Singhbhum.

The three-month-old elephant was carried to the zoo by a team of forest department officials from Manoharpur.