A fat cat leopard put on a gruelling fitness regime by keepers has shown how it is ready to knock spots off other zoo favourites with its new athletic figure.
The roly-poly puss was once so porky that social media users dubbed it 'Claws' after the doughnut-munching cheetah cop Clawhauser in the hit animated Disney movie 'Zootopia'.
Video footage from just 12 months ago shows the podgy leopard struggling to even breathe properly in its enclosure.
Now keepers at Panzhihua Zoo in Sichuan Province, in south-western China, have revealed the result of months of a new balanced diet and a larger enclosure for exercise.
New footage shows a sleeker, slimmer, not-quite-so-big cat prowling around its living area to the amazement of visitors.
Chubby leopard is now normal-sized after successful weight loss in Panzhihua Zoo, China. The video was shared on 4 February, 2025. Note: Photo is a screenshot from a video. (AsiaWire/NX)
Zoo-goer Ms Hu said: "You can see now that in just a few months, it's managed to lose weight and become more robust."
One keeper explained to local media: "This leopard is 16 or 17 years old, which is equivalent to the age of seventy or eighty for a human.
"We're feeding it fresh beef and chicken and proper weight loss is good for extending its life.”
Chubby leopard is now normal-sized after successful weight loss in Panzhihua Zoo, China. The video was shared on 4 February, 2025. Note: Photo is a screenshot from a video. (AsiaWire/NX)
They added: "To improve its environment and increase its exercise movement, we expanded the leopard pavilion.
"We removed the fence and wire mesh between the leopard pavilion and the next building, and its enclosure area increased to 45 square metres, that's twice the original space.
Picture shows the overweight leopard at the Panzhihua Park Zoo, in China, on April 21, 2024. The zoo consulted a number of experts and they all came to the conclusion that he is too old and there is no need to make any efforts for weight loss. Note: Picture is screenshot from a video. (@1983554118/AsiaWire)
"The range of activities now available is large, its amount of exercise is large, and the weight loss effect is more obvious."
Leopards usually live up to 17 years in the wild, and in captivity, they have been known to live as long as 30 years.
Social media users praised the zoo for the weight loss, with one saying: "So inspiring!"
(Joseph Golder / newsX)