The forehead and top of the head have no spots. Six black lines run down the body from the nape of the neck to the flank where the stripes fade into blotches or rosettes. The tail is long, bushy and ringed and tipped with black. Young are usually born with blue eyes which change gradually to the adult coloring. Like all cats, clouded leopards have the tapetum lucidum, a special layer of tissue on the eye, which reflects back all external light and helps them see at night.
Clouded leopards can see about six times better than humans can in the dark.
Look closely while at the exhibit or you may not see the leopard which blends in with the plants and rocks in the enclosure. Other cats which can be viewed at the Trail of Adaptations are the serval, jaguars, Pallas's cats, cougars, a Sumatran tiger and lions. Clouded leopards are an endangered species. This destruction fragments the cat's environments, which makes it very hard for related animals to disperse and for unrelated animals to meet and breed. This program aims to diversify the captive gene pool and improve reproductive techniques.