Nashville Zoo Leopard Cub Actually A Girl, Remains Adorable

NASHVILLE, TN -- Sophisticated, highly-trained scientists: they're just like us. Turns out that everyone has a hard time figuring out if a cat is male or female, as Nashville Zoo officials demonstrated with the historic baby clouded leopard cub born there in March.

With great acclaim, the zoo and The Smithsonian announcedthe birth of Niran in March, the first clouded leopard cub born via artificial insemination using frozen and thawed sperm. The Nashville Zoo was also the site of the first clouded leopard cub born from artificial insemination of any method back in 1992 and is one of the world's leaders in clouded leopard reproduction.

Niran, zoo officials said at the time, was male. Fast-forward nine months and the zoo noticed something odd: Niran's growth is lagging that of playmate Kuso, a male cub of the same age brought in as a playmate. Being well-fed, active and otherwise healthy, zookeepers decided to check under Niran's hood and - surprise! - it's a girl.

Zoo officials, however, say this is actually great news, because there's been a dearth of females born in captivity as part of the clouded leopard species-survival plan, which strives for genetic diversity and demographic balance.

Meanwhile, Niran remains impossibly adorable, according to Patch.

Photo via Nashville Zoo