Clouded Leopard

Clouded Leopard Latest News

Retired Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Susanta Nanda recently shared an old video featuring a rare sighting of a family of clouded leopards in a now-viral post on X.

About Clouded Leopard

• It is a wild cat inhabiting dense forests of the Himalayas through mainland Southeast Asia into South China.
• They have a stocky build and are larger than small cat species, and smaller than the large cats. 
• There are two species of clouded leopards: the clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa), found on the mainland of southeastern Asia, and the Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi), found on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo.
• They are one of the most ancient cat species. However, they are neither a true great cat nor a true small cat, because they cannot roar or purr.

Clouded Leopard Distribution

• It is found from Nepal, Bangladesh, and India through Indochina to Sumatra and Borneo, and northeastward to southern China and formerly Taiwan. 
• It has been found at relatively high altitudes in the Himalayas.
• In India, it is found in Sikkim, northern West Bengal, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur, Assam, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh.
• It is the State animal of Meghalaya.

Clouded Leopard Habitat

• They prefer to live in lowland tropical rainforests. 
• However, they can also be found in dry woodlands and secondary forests, and in Borneo, they are reported to live in mangrove swamps. 

Clouded Leopard Features

• It is a medium-sized cat, 60 to 110 cm long and weighing between 11 and 20 kg.
• It is named after the distinctive ‘clouds’ on its coat – ellipses partially edged in black, with the insides a darker colour than the background colour of the pelt.
• The base of the fur is a pale yellow to rich brown, making the darker cloud-like markings look even more distinctive.
• It has an exceptionally long tail for balancing, which can be as long as the body itself, thick with black ring markings.
• Their long canine teeth are the same size as those of a tiger, even though a tiger is 10 times larger in body size!
• It has relatively short legs and broad paws, which make it excellent at climbing trees and creeping through thick forest. 
• They are arboreal and nocturnal inhabitants.
• They are one of the only cats in the world that can climb down, hang upside down from, and hunt in trees.
• It is a shy and elusive wildcat. It is a solitary animal.
• They have a lifespan of around 13-17 years.

Clouded Leopard Conservation Status

It is classified as ‘Vulnerable’ under the IUCN Red List.

Source: NDTV

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