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[Brhino]

I got a tame leopard from the elves, which I figured would make a pretty badass pet for one of my dwarves.  I let him out of his cage and set his status as "available".  It's been over two years, and no-one has adopted him.  He just hangs around the meeting areas.  Several kittens I couldn't slaughter fast enough have been adopted during that time.  Is this just random luck not panning out, or is there some trick to exotic pets I'm missing?

[Jim Groovester]

It seems that animals are only adopted by dwarves who like them. In your case, there must not have been a dwarf that likes leopards, or he didn't have enough money.

[Brhino]

I have the economy turned off, so money should not be an issue.  regarding dwarven likes or dislikes, the wiki states:

"Available large animals may be adopted by any dwarf, but tame vermin will only be adopted by dwarves who like that animal."

But perhaps this is incorrect.

[Jim Groovester]

Maybe. It wouldn't be the first time the wiki has been woefully wrong on something. I'd be willing to bet that only dwarves that have a preference for a particular type of animal will be the ones that adopt them, unless somebody can confirm otherwise.

[XSI]

I'm fairly sure they need a preference for an animal to adopt them, with the exceptions being assigned war/hunting dogs.

I have never seen any dwarves adopt a mountain goat, wolf, fox, or anything other then the usual cows/donkeys/horses/dogs. The same goes for vermin, but with vermin they tend to like them better as food then as pet.

Cats adopt dwarves, I'm not sure if the cats have preferences for dwarves.

[Hyndis]

Dwarves will only adopt animals they like.

Some animals are just incredibly unpopular. I keep all large animals confined in the bone farm to save on FPS though.

In my fortress I have maybe 30 tiny, tame, and available pets. The only two adopted are the two hedgehogs, both adopted by my mason.

They sit on his left and right shoulders. 

[buzz killington]

The leopard and foxes I had stayed unadopted until they got old and died.  A lot of my horses and donkeys get adopted as lots of my dwarves have preferences for them.

The one milker adopted two tamed purring maggots 

[Grendus]

Cats adopt dwarves, I'm not sure if the cats have preferences for dwarves.

Oddly enough, I've only seen cats adopt dwarves who like cats for their aloofness. I think Toady used the generic adoption behaviors for cats, they're just set to adoptable by default and have different status/adoption messages.

[forsaken1111]

The leopard and foxes I had stayed unadopted until they got old and died.  A lot of my horses and donkeys get adopted as lots of my dwarves have preferences for them.

The one milker adopted two tamed purring maggots 

Animals die of old age? That's a new one for me.

[Hyndis]

Almost everything will die of old age, including dwarves.

[buzz killington]

Yep, I'm 20 years in.  Plenty of cats and dogs have died of old age.  Also a raccoon, a leopard, a fox, and I forget what all else.

I haven't seen a draft animal die of old age yet.

[Brhino]

Almost everything will die of old age, including dwarves.

how long do dwarves live?

[Jim Groovester]

150 to 170 years, if I remember correctly.

[Hyndis]

They will also have a random age when you start the fortress. This is why sometimes a diplomat will die for no apparent reason when he comes to visit your fort. Old age finally caught up to him.

[G-Flex]

There's also a POSSIBILITY that dwarves will adopt [COMMON_DOMESTIC] animals sometimes even if they don't have a preference for them.

This might not be true, but is worth looking into.