This clouded leopard is one of the animal ambassadors people with a Backstage Pass can see in a close encounter activity at San Diego Zoo. I am not in favour of this kind of arranged close encounter activities, because it means these animals must be trained for their job. Which means close contact with human beings, loss of fear for man, and no chance for a return in the wild after captive breeding. Nevertheless, I make an exception for the clouded leopard. This elusive and critically endangered species has to rely on captive breeding to defy extinction.

The species' breeding behaviour has been documented only in managed-care facilities. Due to these experiences clouded leopards are considered one of the most difficult large cats to breed in zoological facilities. As there is a high incidence of aggression between males and females, and adult males are generally twice the size of females, this sometimes results in the death of the female. This mate killing could be caused by frustration due to the fact the cats are not allowed to express their predator behaviour and have no opportunity to kill its own prey, nor have been educated by their mothers to recognise prey species. This will apply to all cats bred and kept in captivity, but the temperament of the clouded leopards makes them particularly susceptible to it. Moreover there is decreased breeding activity and high kitten mortality.

It has been found that potential pairs that are introduced to each other at an early age have better breeding success. Therefore more and more zoos have successfully bred clouded leopards by hand-raising cubs, which prevents parental predation and also allows the zoo to pair cubs at an early age and form natural pair bonds, which significantly reduces aggression.

But I don't expect any of these clouded leopards born and raised in captivity this way will have a chance surviving the wild. Their contribution to conservation is being ambassadors for the work of zoos and raise awareness of the perilous situation of endangered species amongst the zoo public.

The San Diego Zoo’s first clouded leopard arrived from Singapore in 1940. In 1978, the Zoo produced its first clouded leopard cub. The leopards they house today, indeed are being used as ambassador species, and give visitors some insight about the behaviours of a vulnerable species and the contribution of zoos to prevent the species from going extinct.