Thailand Clouded Leopard Breeding Project

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	Small Carnivore Project
	Thailand Clouded Leopard Breeding Project
	Thai anti poaching
	Carnivore Conservation Project
	Ecology and Conservation of the Clouded Leopard

Clouded Leopard Conservation and Research in Thailand

Thailand Small Carnivore and Clouded Leopard Workshop, Kasetsart University

Thailand Clouded Leopard Breeding Project, Khao Kheow Open Zoo

Carnivore Conservation Project, Khao Yai National Park

Park Ranger and Anti-Poaching Support, Khao Yai National Park

Ecology and Conservation of the Clouded Leopard, Phu Khieo Wildlife Sanctuary

Thailand Clouded Leopard Breeding Project

This program, based at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo, was developed by a consortium consisting of the Thailand Zoological Parks Organization (ZPO), Khao Kheow Open Zoo, Nashville Zoo, Smithsonian's National Zoological Park, and the Clouded Leopard SSP. This coalition of international partners is working together to develop a viable self-sustaining clouded leopard breeding program in Thailand. Khao Kheow Zoo, in Chonburi, Thailand, serves as the project's first breeding center, housing pairs of clouded leopards originating from the five zoos within the ZPO. Some of the cubs that result will be exported to the United States to serve as new founders to the SSP population in an effort to improve that population's genetics and demographics.

An essential component of the project is the placement of a full-time coordinator from the United States in Thailand. The coordinator, Rick Pasarro, oversees the project and performs critical duties such as developing proper husbandry techniques, training Thai zookeepers, improving enclosures, assisting in veterinary care, and maintaining records. Experienced clouded leopard managers from Smithsonian National Zoo, the Nashville Zoo, and Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium also rotate duties as relief project coordinators, with the zoos funding their salaries while they are working in Thailand.


	Watch Video Clips You will need Quicktime or Media Player to view these video clips. Baby Leopards in Action

This project has multiple animal management and research objectives including:

	Renovate existing enclosures at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo to provide isolated breeding areas and dens for clouded leopards
	Renovate existing enclosures at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo to provide isolated breeding areas and dens for clouded leopards
	Provide an onsite animal manager with extensive experience in clouded leopard breeding, nutrition, and management
	Provide salary for an English-speaking Thai animal keeper
	Provide training in basic clouded leopard husbandry and breeding techniques
	Develop a record keeping system for animal husbandry, nutrition, breeding, pregnancy, and cub survival data
	Formulate and provide a nutritionally balanced diet and determine source for fresh rodents and quail
	Move cats to newly renovated enclosures
	Assess changes in stress (measured as fecal cortisol) before and after the move to improved, isolated enclosures (conducted by Brookfield Zoo)
	Assess female reproductive status and cyclicity using fecal hormone analyses of estrogen and progesterone metabolites (conducted by Smithsonian National Zoological Park)
	Begin introductions and breeding encounters with selected animals
	Monitor pregnancy/gestation/parturition using fecal hormones

Program objectives include daily fecal collections for analyses of reproductive and stress hormones in the clouded leopards. Fecal collections began in May 2002 and are ongoing. Samples continue to be collected daily on and will be utilized to determine the following: 1) assessing changes in stress (measured as fecal cortisol) before and after moving cats from old enclosures and exhibits to new large isolated enclosures with tall cages (75' x 25' x 30') (study is being conducted by Dr. Nadjia Wielebnowski of the Brookfield Zoo); 2) assessing female reproductive status and cyclicity using fecal hormone analyses of estrogen and progesterone metabolites (study is being conducted by Katey Pelican and JoGayle Howard of the Smithsonian National Zoological Park); 3) assessing nutritional and health status before and after diet improvements (analyzed by Drs. Pelican and Howard); and 4) monitoring pregnancy, gestation, and parturition using fecal reproductive hormones (analyzed by Drs. Pelican and Howard).

In January 2003, Drs. Katey Pelican and JoGayle Howard traveled to Thailand to: 1) assess semen quality in consortium clouded leopards following improvements in diets and enclosures; 2) cryopreserve sperm for the Clouded Leopard Genome Resource Bank; 3) conduct behavioral surveys on participating cats; and 4) document current and previous enclosure dimensions and characteristics. Semen quality was excellent (80 - 85% motile sperm) in specific males housed in the new low-stress enclosures and on the new balanced diet. One male, however, was still housed in an enclosure with close proximity to large predators (tigers and bears) and was being fed an imbalanced diet (chicken meat and bone with no vitamin/mineral supplementation). His semen quality was extremely poor with only 10% sperm motility and very low sperm concentration. Furthermore, excessive self-grooming had resulted in severe hair loss (a common indicator of stress in clouded leopards). In summary, there has been excellent progress in the ex situ husbandry and breeding program.

April 2003 brought the program's first successful litter following natural breeding, resulting in the birth of two clouded leopard cubs at KKOZ. This achievement illustrates the benefits of improved diet, enclosures, and husbandry. Since that time, breeding has progressed rapidly, with twenty-four clouded leopard cubs being born as part of the program since its inception.

Two of the breeding program’s cubs were imported into the United States in early 2005. Pairing was attempted at both the Nashville Zoo and Smithsonian’s National Zoo with cubs born at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, however neither pair was successful. In the future, cubs will be paired in Thailand prior to export so that successful pair bonding can be assured. When the imported cats breed, their offspring will be extremely important for bolstering the genetic diversity of the North American clouded leopard population.