Researchers have confirmed that a young adult leopard cat named Lulu has given birth to two new cubs after recent images showed them in Nantou County, the Endemic Species Research Institute under the Council of Agriculture said on Wednesday.
The images, which showed Lulu with the two young cubs in a mountainous area of Nantou’s Xinyi Township, were taken on Oct. 12 by motion-activated cameras installed in the area by an institute research team responsible for the conservation of the endangered species in Taiwan.
It was the first time the three leopard cats were filmed together since Lulu was electronically tagged and released into the wild in February 2019 in Xinyi Township, one of the native leopard cats’ original habitats where the institute operates a rehabilitation center.
Footage showed Lulu walking along a path with one of the cubs, while other images showed the adult leopard cat picking up another cub by the scruff of its neck — leading researchers to conclude that Lulu recently gave birth to the two cubs, the team said.
Lulu was first captured by researchers in December 2018 after the institute received a report from a Lugu chicken farmer complaining that the leopard cat had killed poultry in his farm.
Lulu was released into her original habitat in Lugu Township two months later after veterinaries treated her for scratches on her body and wounds from two missing toes.
However, in 2020 the animal was captured again after prowling around another farm with a young leopard cat researchers called “Bro Lugu,” believed to be her only cub at the time. The two were released back into the wild in Xinyi Township in September 2021 after being trained to recognize the danger posed by the electric fences used by local farms.
Researchers lost track of Bro Lugu in March this year, the last it was captured on film, according to the institute.
Native leopard cat populations are commonly clustered in Miaoli, Nantou and Taichung, with most living in areas under altitudes of 1,000 meters.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel