As the director of animal health at the Nashville Zoo, Dr. Heather Schwartz has been handraising clouded leopards for 16 years.
“I'm here with our 50th clouded leopard cub,” Schwartz told ABC World News Tonight anchor David Muir. “We were very excited to have her join our team. She's just at a kilogram, so a few pounds, that's it right now.”
Eventually, the cub will grow to about 30 pounds, like her mother, Jewels.
Currently, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums has 64 clouded leopards under its care, with the Nashville Zoo producing 50 of them over the last 35 years.
The latest birth is a huge milestone for the AZA’s Clouded Leopard Species Survival Plan.
“We couldn't be more proud, so very big news, and she has a lot to say about that,” Schwartz laughed, as the cub let out a tiny cry. “She thinks it’s exciting, too.”
Today, clouded leopards are listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.
Experts estimate that only 10,000 clouded leopards remain in the wilds of Southeast Asia, including countries like Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, and China.
Their steady decline comes after decades of poaching, habitat loss, and wildlife trafficking.
“Specific populations can be difficult to track, as the clouded leopard is among the rarest of the world’s cat species and one of the most elusive,” reads a statement on the Nashville Zoo website. “ The reduced number of pelts encountered at markets and reduced sightings of clouded leopards by people within its range suggest the species is in decline.”
In coordination with the AZA, the Nashville Zoo has become a leader in conservation care through collaborative breeding programs and assisted reproduction.
By working with the Thailand Zoological Parks Organization, Smithsonian's National Zoological Park, and the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, the Nashville Zoo helped create the Clouded Leopard Consortium in 2002.
The consortium, which is based in a national forest at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Thailand, has played a crucial role in stabilizing the local clouded leopard population and better understanding clouded leopard behavior at large.
Typically, clouded leopards are difficult to raise in captivity due to male aggression and parental neglect.
At the Clouded Leopard Consortium, unrelated male and female cubs are hand-raised and introduced to each other early to form bonds at a young age, a technique that the Nashville Zoo employs as well.
“Last year, Nashville Zoo celebrated the birth of one clouded leopard cub and the acquisition of three clouded leopard cubs,” the zoo shared on their website. “Gemma, Meru, Joker, and Quinn are still on view for the public to visit and can be seen in Critter Encounter and in Bamboo Forest in the clouded leopard habitat.”
“As part of the AZA’s Species Survival Plan program, the four cubs have been paired and will grow up together in hopes of successful reproduction in the future.”
For animal lovers looking for ways to help the threatened species in the wild, the zoo invited people to invest in sustainable palm oil.
“The biggest threat to clouded leopard populations in the wild is habitat loss, and one of the largest factors fueling the destruction of the clouded leopard’s habitat is palm oil production,” the zoo explained.
“Palm oil and its derivatives can be found in 50% of supermarket items, so as consumers, we can help clouded leopards by showing companies we prefer products made with sustainably produced palm oil.”
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Header image via the Nashville Zoo
