International Clouded Leopard Day: Latest Updates on Taipei Zoo’s “Suki”Post date：2021-08-05
Updates：2021-08-05
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Today is the fourth day of the Taipei Municipal Zoo's semi-reopening. People who have visited the clouded leopard "Suki" in the past few days may have questions about why are the plants in the middle of the clouded leopard’s playground in a mess even after the park’s long closure? This is not because the zookeepers are too busy to maintain the environment: In fact, the culprit turned out to be the clouded leopard "Suki" itself.
Recently, during the desensitization training of clouded leopards, zookeepers accidentally discovered that "Suki" likes the light aroma of the herb called Taiwan Moon Peach. Taiwan Moon Peach is native to Taiwan, Okinawa and other places. These plants are often seen in low-altitude mountains and forests in Taiwan. During training, zookeepers prepared the stems and leaves of several moon peaches as behavioral enrichment toys.
After "Suki" came into contact with moon peaches, it demonstrated reactions similar to those of other cats when they inhale the scent of matata – rubbing and rolling around in order to make their body even more scented. This newly exhibited behavior of "Suki" spells trouble for the moon peach plant that grows inside the clouded leopard’s playground. Since the clouded leopard has experienced the pleasure induced by the "yue peach fragrance", "Suki" can't control the instinct of getting up and trample the plants as she walks near the Yuetao bushes in the following days. The stems of herbaceous plants are fragile. Thus, the moon peach plants are incapable of physically withstanding "Suki’s" eagerness, resulting in a state of disrepair as seen by visitors. The zoo’s staff had to trim the moon peach plants so that the plants are able to grow again.
Today (Aug. 4) is the annual "International Clouded Leopard Day". Taiwan clouded leopard was unfortunately declared to be extinct in 2013. The current resident clouded leopard "Suki" (7 years and 2 months old) at Taipei Zoo is a female clouded leopard brought in from the "Wuppertal Zoo" in Germany at the end of 2016 under international and trans-zoo cooperation. The two zoos jointly implemented the conservation of clouded leopards and their sympatric species which are also endangered.
Additionally, the government seeks to promote the educational exhibitions and educational activities to raise public awareness on the plight of clouded leopards in the wild and contribute to clouded leopard conservation together.
Recently, during the desensitization training of clouded leopards, zookeepers accidentally discovered that "Suki" likes the light aroma of the herb called Taiwan Moon Peach. Taiwan Moon Peach is native to Taiwan, Okinawa and other places. These plants are often seen in low-altitude mountains and forests in Taiwan. During training, zookeepers prepared the stems and leaves of several moon peaches as behavioral enrichment toys.
After "Suki" came into contact with moon peaches, it demonstrated reactions similar to those of other cats when they inhale the scent of matata – rubbing and rolling around in order to make their body even more scented. This newly exhibited behavior of "Suki" spells trouble for the moon peach plant that grows inside the clouded leopard’s playground. Since the clouded leopard has experienced the pleasure induced by the "yue peach fragrance", "Suki" can't control the instinct of getting up and trample the plants as she walks near the Yuetao bushes in the following days. The stems of herbaceous plants are fragile. Thus, the moon peach plants are incapable of physically withstanding "Suki’s" eagerness, resulting in a state of disrepair as seen by visitors. The zoo’s staff had to trim the moon peach plants so that the plants are able to grow again.
Today (Aug. 4) is the annual "International Clouded Leopard Day". Taiwan clouded leopard was unfortunately declared to be extinct in 2013. The current resident clouded leopard "Suki" (7 years and 2 months old) at Taipei Zoo is a female clouded leopard brought in from the "Wuppertal Zoo" in Germany at the end of 2016 under international and trans-zoo cooperation. The two zoos jointly implemented the conservation of clouded leopards and their sympatric species which are also endangered.
Additionally, the government seeks to promote the educational exhibitions and educational activities to raise public awareness on the plight of clouded leopards in the wild and contribute to clouded leopard conservation together.
