Chelsea Mihalick, senior lead keeper at the zoo, said the jaguars are temporarily at the zoo from the San Antonio Zoo in San Antonio, Texas.

She said the length of time the animals will remain at the Minot zoo depends on when the San Antonio zoo has completed work on its exhibits,

“They got funding to redo their exhibits so they needed housing for their two jags (jaguars),” said Mihalick.

The San Antonio Zoo had sent out a query to Association of Zoos and Aquariums members asking if any had a place for the jaguars, Mihalick said. The Minot zoo is an AZA-accredited zoo.

Eloise Ogden/MDN This is one of the two jaguars being temporarily housed at Roosevelt Park Zoo.

“Brandi (Clark, Minot zoo curator) reached out to them,” Mihalick said.

Since the zoo’s feline complex was vacant now that the African lions, Amur tigers and the Amur leopard have moved to new habitats, there was a place for the jaguars.

Mihalick said she and Clark met the San Antonio Zoo staff with the two jaguars in Omaha, Nebraska, and brought them back to Minot.

She said taking care of the two jaguars is similar to the other cats at the zoo.

“It’s pretty much the same routine as the other cats,” she said.

Eloise Ogden/MDN One of three crested porcupines is shown at the Minot zoo. The porcupines are here temporarily from the Hemker Park and Zoo in Minnesota.

But she said the jaguars are a lot stronger.

“Just their jaw strength is much stronger so you have to watch what you give them – stuff like that,” she said.

Mihalick joined the Minot zoo staff in 2008. She left for a year, which happened to be the same year as the 2011 flood, then returned to the zoo. She has held various positions at the zoo and now is senior lead keeper.

The length of time the jaguars will remain at the Minot zoo depends on when the San Antonio Zoo completes redoing its exhibits.

The zoo also has three crested porcupines with very long quills, a young domestic yak and two lynxes on a temporary basis from Hemker Park and Zoo in Freeport, Minnesota.

Eloise Ogden/MDN A young domestic yak is at the Minot zoo temporarily from the Hemker Park and Zoo in Freeport, Minn.

Jennifer Kleen, executive director of the Greater Minot Zoological Society, said the animals give zoo visitors an opportunity to meet new animals temporarily.

When the Bramble Park Zoo in Watertown, South Dakota, learned the Minot zoo would be getting jaguars from the San Antonio Zoo, they offered jaguar signage they weren’t needing. A banner across the jaguars’ temporary home in Minot reads: “Jaguar Junction.”

The jaguars arrived in April, about two or three weeks before the animals from the Minnesota zoo.

As for taking care of the porcupine, Mihalick said, “It’s just different. I’ve never taken care of porcupines before. They love their food. They’re very hungry in the morning, They’re very eager,” she said. She said they eat produce and a rodent chow – like a grain – to help their teeth.

She said the yak gets grain like that fed to many of the other hoofed-stock animals.

The jaguars and all the other cats mainly get a feline diet.

On hot days many of the animals might be sleeping in their quarters but at other times likely will be available for visitors to see.