Clouded Leopard Baby is HUNGRY
Nashville Zoo has a new important arrival, she's tiny but has a big appetite
It’s always good news when we can greet a new, healthy clouded leopard into the world. While we are all still delighting at photogenic juvenile Miri’s antics at another zoo, the zoo in Nashville has their own bit of good news. Add another endangered clouded leopard to our big blue marble. Born on February 25th, this new zoo baby cub is only a few weeks old and is doing well. Her eyes won’t open for a few more weeks, so she has no idea that she’s cuddling with a stuffed dog(!) toy in the zoo’s nursery.
The female cub was born to the zoo’s mated pair Niran and Ron, the result of a natural mating. She’s Niran’s fourth litter, all her other cubs being girls too. The new cub is so far the only clouded leopard born in an AZA1-accredited Zoo this year and as such the zoo staff is being extra-careful to ensure her survival, choosing to rear her by hand to avoid parental neglect or predation and thus increase the odds of survival for a critical species.
In total, the AZA has 64 clouded leopards under their purview, 15 of them housed at the Nashville Zoo. The zoo credits their successful participation in clouded leopard breeding and conservation in part on their hand-raising efforts. In addition to protecting the cubs from parental neglect, hand-rearing also reduces cubs’ stress and allows a normally-nervous species to become acclimated to the human intereaction that animals will necessarily experience in a zoo environment. It also allows zoos to more easily pair mates at an earlier age, which reduces aggression and increases breeding success.
This yet-unnamed cub is the 44th to be born at the Nashville Zoo since their participation in the clouded leopard conservation and breeding program. Those living in the Nashville area can go visit her from a nursery viewing area. The zoo is planning on announcing a naming competition within the next few weeks for this precious baby girl.
WKRN: “Nashville Zoo welcomes new clouded leopard cub” by Erin McCullough, 3/11/25
Association of Zoos and Aquariums, a non-profit orginazation advocating for zoo animals and focused on animal welfare and conservation efforts.
Lovely.
Yummy!