Three endangered snow leopard cubs took their first steps into the world today and even managed to keep cool despite the unfamiliar heatwave.

The 12-week-old triplets, who in the wild would live in the cool mountains of central Asia, enjoyed exploring their surroundings, climbing rocks, play fighting and chasing their mother Irina at Marwell Wildlife Park near Winchester.

The baby leopards, two male and one female, were born in April and have been closely monitored by Marwell's animal keepers.

Marc Fox, who looks after them, said: ''It's really good to see the cubs out and about and they have already developed their own personalities. It will be interesting to see if they come out of their shell more now they have a larger space.

''To have three cubs is really rare as leopard cats would normally only have one or maybe two cubs.

''This is Irina's second litter and she is an excellent Mum.''

Mother Irina and Dad Indeever, arrived at the park in January 2010 as part of the European endangered species breeding programme (EEP).

Marwell's conservation biologist, Heidi Mitchell said: ''Snow leopards, like all big cat species, are threatened in the wild. This means that maintaining a healthy captive population of snow leopards is of vital importance to the global conservation strategy for the species.''

Keepers have named the female cub Animesh which means 'bright' and 'to stare open eyed' in Nepalese. This name was chosen because she opened her eyes particularly early. A male cub was given the name Ariun which means 'pure' in Mongolian and now the keepers are asking the public to help them name the second male cub.

According to the Snow Leopard Trust, there are between 3,500 and 7,000 snow leopards left in the wild. It is not possible to know exactly because the animals live in remote areas and are elusive, so they are rarely seen.

They live throughout the mountains of Central Asia in Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

There are about 600 snow leopards in zoos around the world.