By Allie Healy | ahealy@syracuse.com
After asking numerous zookeepers and park managers across the region to submit their cutest critter, we put all the adorable contestants into a poll and asked our readers to vote on their favorite. After a week-long run, the winner has been decided.
The winner of Upstate New York's cutest zoo animal is … Sahak from the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse.
Read on to learn more about Sahak, Armenian mouflons and how you can see him at the zoo!
Sahak is a baby Armenian Mouflon, a species of wild sheep that is threatened in its native habitat the mountains of Armenia, Northern Iran and Azerbaijan.
Sahak was born on May 18 at the Richmond Zoo in Virginia. The Syracuse zoo keepers named him Sahak, which is Armenian for Isaac. He's currently on part-time exhibit in the barn next to the Explorer’s Outpost. The ultimate plan is for Sahak to join the Takin exhibit. Takin are Himalayan mountain goats, so the exhibit will be a mixed-species space.
Sahak allows the Rosamond Gifford Zoo to help save his declining species through participation in a Species Survival Plan (SSP) overseen by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The zoo hopes to acquire a young female Mouflon in the future to form a breeding pair and become directly involved in this special breeding program.
The Rosamond Gifford Zoo is currently in charge of coordinating the Mouflon SSP breeding program, a release from the zoo says. The studbook is currently managed by one of the zoo's own primary Zookeepers, Seth Groesbeck.
Zoo Director Ted Fox explains, "Management of the SSP assures that the genetic lines are pure because, in the wild, the genetics of the mouflon are being diluted by interbreeding with other species of domestic sheep."
Sahak is being hand-reared and zoo-goers may see keepers bottle-feeding him on exhibit. His midday feeding takes place around noon. Watch as his keeper, Seth Groesbeck, feeds Sahak in the video above.
Armenian Mouflon are generally a shade of brown with males having a dark ruff extending from the front of the lower neck to the chest, the zoo says. An adult Armenian mouflon can grow to about 3 feet tall with males generally being larger. Adult males average from 120 to 155 pounds.
Visitors to the Rosamond Gifford Zoo at Burnet Park in Syracuse can see literally hundreds of animals — about 730 representing roughly 200 species, not including insects. The animals are spread across 43 acres.
On each visit, you may see new animals — the zoo is constantly adding to its collection. It welcomes visitors year round.
Address: One Conservation Place, Syracuse.
Find their website here.
Sahak's part-time exhibit is in the barn next to the Explorer’s Outpost.