nationalzoo.si.eduA clouded leopard
The clouded leopard is also a subject of research in Front Royal, Virginia, in America’s Blue Ridge Mountains. The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute studies and cares for thirty-three kinds of animals there. Like the clouded leopard, all are considered endangered.
BOB DOUGHTY: Research in a small space is necessary for the clouded leopard. In the wild, the animal usually does not let itself be seen. Its colors make the cat seem to disappear into the forest. Its name comes from the design of darker shapes on its hair. The shapes look like clouds.
Listen now to sounds from a clouded leopard.
(SOUND)
BOB DOUGHTY: The clouded leopard sounds much like a common housecat. But housecats are much smaller by comparison. The male clouded leopard weighs about twenty to twenty-seven kilograms. The female is much smaller.
Institute director Steven Monfort has a reason why the clouded leopard may be rare. He says the adult males attack the females. This behavior clearly decreases reproduction. But the researchers have learned to raise males and females together while they are young. Under those conditions, the cats do not fight. Instead, they later produce baby leopards.
(MUSIC)
FAITH LAPIDUS: The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute was launched in January of two thousand ten. The Institute opened on the grounds of what was formerly the National Zoo’s Conservation and Research Center.
最新
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25