Four Amur Leopard Cat cubs were born at Inokashira Park Zoo on Friday, May 13, 2022. Their sexes are not yet known.

Her mother is "Mire" (born April 30, 2020 at Seoul Grand Park [South Korea], arrived at the park on November 4, 2021), and her father is "Tari" (born April 14, 2020 at Seoul Grand Park [South Korea], arrived at the park on November 4, 2021).

A young Amur Leopard Cat cat inside a nest box (Date of photo: May 29, 2022)	Amur Leopard Cat "Mille" (Date of photo: April 21, 2022)

Inokashira Park Zoo began keeping Amur Leopard Cat in August 2000 and has continued to exhibit and breed them ever since. However, in recent years, natural breeding has become difficult due to the aging of the individual cats, so since 2012, they have been working on artificial breeding in collaboration with the Department of Veterinary Clinical Reproduction at Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University. In March 2014, they successfully performed the first artificial insemination on Amur Leopard Cat, resulting in the birth of two offspring (one was stillborn).

Subsequently, in November of last year, a pair was donated by Seoul, a sister city of Tokyo, to promote the captive breeding of endangered animals. When pairing was attempted with this pair in March of this year, mating was confirmed, and four cubs were born on the morning of May 14th. Video footage indicates that the babies were born on the evening of May 13th.

This is the first Amur Leopard Cat birth at our zoo since 2014, but it's the first natural breeding in 16 years, since 2006. The knowledge gained from this breeding will likely be useful for Tsushima Leopard Cat cat conservation and breeding program.

We will announce the details of the public viewing on Inokashira Park Zoo official website as soon as they are decided. Prior to the public viewing, we plan to show a video recording of the baby cat on a monitor in the wildcat enclosure.

Current status of animal care at our zoo (as of June 2, 2022)
8 individuals (3 males, 1 female, 4 of unknown gender) *This includes the babies born this time.

* Amur Leopard Cat is a subspecies of Leopard Cat that is widely distributed in Southeast Asia.
Among the Amur Leopard Cat, the local population that inhabits only Tsushima Island in Nagasaki Prefecture is called Tsushima Leopard Cat, and in addition to the above, our zoo keeps three Tsushima Leopard Cat (1 male and 2 females).

Breeding situation in Japan (as of December 31, 2021)
5 zoos/aquariums, 8 animals (3 males, 5 females)
Source: JCP Category Overview Report [Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums]

◎Related News
・ Amur Leopard Cat gave birth through artificial insemination. (April 10, 2014)
・ Amur Leopard Cat giving birth, and what happened afterward (April 25, 2014)
・ A pair of Amur Leopard Cat cats have arrived at the park from Seoul Grand Park. (November 12, 2021)

(June 2, 2022)