female is in estrus for about six days, with her estrous cycle lasting about 30 days. In the wild, mating usually occurs between December and March. The pair mates multiple times over the course of several days. The male grasps the female by the neck who responds with vocalization. Occasionally, he also bites her during courtship and is very aggressive during sexual encounters. Females can bear one litter each year. The male is not involved in raising the cubs. The female gives birth to a litter of one to five, mostly three cubs, after a gestation period of 93 ± 6 days. Cubs are born with closed eyes and weigh from . Their spots are solid dark, rather than dark rings. Their eyes open after about 10 days. They are active within five weeks and fully weaned at around three months of age. They attain the adult coat pattern at around six months and become independent after around 10 months. Captive clouded leopards have an average lifespan of 11 years. One individual has lived to be almost 17 years old. Generation length of the clouded leopard is about seven years. Threats Many of the remaining forest areas are too small to ensure the long-term persistence of clouded leopard populations. They are threatened by habitat loss following large–scale deforestation and commercial poaching for the wildlife trade. Skins, claws and teeth are offered for decoration and clothing, bones and meat as substitute for body parts of the tiger in traditional Asian medicine and tonics, and live animals for the pet trade. In Myanmar, 301 body parts of at least 279 clouded leopards, mostly skins and skeletons, were observed in four markets surveyed between 1991 and 2006. Three of the surveyed markets are situated on international borders with China and Thailand, and cater to international buyers. Implementation and enforcement of CITES is considered inadequate. In Nepal, 27 cases of clouded leopard body parts were discovered between November 1988 and March 2020 in nine districts of the country, comprising at least 51 individual clouded leopards. In 17 of these cases, the poachers and traders were arrested. Conservation The clouded leopard is listed in CITES Appendix I and protected over most of its range. Hunting is banned in Bangladesh, China, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. It is not legally protected outside Bhutan's protected areas. Hunting is regulated in Laos. No information about