NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Nashville may be best known for music and hot chicken but a program at the Nashville Zoo could very well make that list. The zoo's clouded leopard breeding program sets a national standard with 45 cubs born in the last 14 years.
Dr. Heather Schwartz, the zoo’s Director of Veterinary Services not only oversees the program but is hands-on providing weigh-ins and feedings. Human interaction and touch are very much part of the zoo’s Clouded Leopard Species Survival Plan.
“They can be very secretive – they would live deep in a forest and be very isolated and not with a lot of people.
The grown males are also twice the size of females. As a strong predator by nature, breeding in the wild can be dangerous for their mates. It's one reason - along with deforestation, poaching and pet trade - that these cats are considered "vulnerable to extinction."
“So by doing this, we keep them calmer and we can introduce them to a female at a small age when they are more an equal size. That way they grow up together.”
The Nashville Zoo has worked for more than 30 years to grow the species' numbers in captivity. This newest, unnamed cub is one of many success stories.
“He actually came from Oklahoma City Zoo. His dad was raised here and we sent him in 2019 for breeding and now they had him as an offspring.”
With another clouded leopard at the zoo about to give birth, the hope is to pair this young cub with a female – meaning this nursery could see double the trouble very soon!
