NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – As the Nashville Zoo battles a potential data center next door, it has announced a milestone birth of one of the “rarest of the world’s cat species.”
The clouded leopard was born on May 5 and is the first animal at the Nashville Zoo to be co-reared, which is when the animal mother raises and nurses the cub while animal care staff help it socialize from an early age.
The zoo said that the cub, named Mayuree, is currently the size of a loaf of bread and is the 51st clouded leopard born at the zoo since 1991.
Nashville Zoo Director of Veterinary Services Heather Schwartz said that clouded leopard reproduction and cub rearing are “notoriously challenging, with high rates of parental predation or neglect.” This has forced the cubs to often be hand-reared…