A couple weeks ago I wrote about the discovery that Clouded Leopards actually formed two species instead of a single species. As I mentioned, I had emailed the Toronto Zoo to find out which species their Clouded Leopard belonged to. Today I received the following reply from Maria Franke, the curator of mammals:
In regards to your question on if the Toronto Zoo Clouded Leopards are the newly identified Bornean/Sumatran species, at this time we are not sure. Because the scientific community was assuming that there was only one species of C. leopard, an extensive DNA study is going to need to occur to identify the animals that are currently part of the North American Captive Breeding Species Survival Plan (SSP). This research could take some time and there is the likelihood that the majority of cats will be a cross due to single species management over the years.
So there you have it: the mystery will continue for at least a little while longer.
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