Newborn Clouded Leopard Making Waves at Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo
The kitten is the first born to the zoo’s pair of 4-year-old clouded leopards.
— -- A newborn clouded leopard is beginning to open its eyes and being bottle-fed 10 days after it was born at a Florida zoo.
Officials at Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo say the endangered clouded leopard kitten, a male, was born March 7 under the watchful eye of the zoo’s animal care staff. The kitten weighed in at 0.6 pounds at birth and has now bulked up to around 1.2 pounds, zoo officials said in a statement announcing its birth.
The unnamed kitten will need a few more weeks to have the strength to walk and will be hand-reared by zoo staff until he is about 3-months-old.
The clouded leopard’s birth was especially cheered by zoo officials because he is the first kitten born to his parents, “Yim” and “Malee,” who were brought to Lowry Park Zoo in 2011 and paired together as potential mates under a program that helps the conservation of species at the risk of extinction.
The kitten’s birth brings to 87 the total number of clouded leopards in Association of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited institutions, zoo officials said.
“This birth signifies a milestone accomplishment in our conservation programs at Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo,” Dr. Larry Killmar, the zoo’s vice president of animal science and conservation, said in a statement. “Species survival programs for animals like clouded leopards take years of planning, development and staff commitment.”