Clouded Leopard
The clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) is a medium sized wild cat of South and Southeast Asia, found from the Himalayan foothills of Nepal, Bhutan and northeastern India through southern China, Myanmar and Indochina to Peninsular Malaysia. Its coat is marked with large, dark edged blotches that look like clouds, giving it superb camouflage in the dappled light of the forest. Relative to the size of its skull, it has the longest canine teeth of any living cat, which has earned it comparisons with the extinct saber toothed cats. It is also one of the best climbers in the cat family: flexible ankles let it climb down trunks headfirst and even hang from branches by its hind feet, while a tail almost as long as its body works as a counterbalance. It hunts deer, wild pigs, monkeys, birds and smaller mammals, both on the ground and in the trees. Very shy and rarely seen, it is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, which estimates only 3,700 to 5,580 mature adults, fewer than wild tigers. Forest loss and illegal hunting for its skin, bones and teeth are the main threats.
What is a clouded leopard? Not a true leopard
Despite its name, the clouded leopard is not a type of leopard. It belongs to its own genus, Neofelis, which split from the line that led to lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars millions of years ago. Scientists often describe it as a link between the big cats and the small cats: it has the long canines and powerful build of a big cat, but it weighs about as much as a medium sized dog. The genus has two species. The mainland clouded leopard, Neofelis nebulosa, lives from the Himalayas to Peninsular Malaysia, and the Sunda clouded leopard, Neofelis diardi, lives on Borneo and Sumatra. Genetic studies in 2006 showed that they are different species, separated for more than a million years. The name comes from the large cloud shaped blotches on its coat, and in Spanish it is also known as the pantera nebulosa. The clouded leopard is the state animal of Meghalaya, in northeastern India. It is also much rarer than most people think: the IUCN estimates 3,700 to 5,580 mature clouded leopards in the wild, fewer than the number of wild tigers, even though far less attention goes to protecting them.
Clouded leopard teeth: the longest canines of any cat
The clouded leopard's most famous feature is its teeth. Its upper canines measure about 4 to 5 cm, roughly as long as those of a much bigger cat, and relative to the size of its skull they are the longest of any living cat. That is why it is often called a modern saber tooth, although it is not related to the extinct saber toothed cats. The skull is long and narrow, and the jaw can open unusually wide, which lets the clouded leopard drive those long canines deep into the neck of its prey. There is also a gap behind the canines, so the long teeth can sink in fully. Scientists think this combination evolved to kill relatively large animals, such as deer and wild pigs, with a single powerful bite. Its short, strong legs and broad paws, with large claws, help it pin down struggling prey. The teeth are also one of the reasons the species is hunted: canines, claws and bones are sold illegally as trophies and for traditional medicine in parts of Asia.
How big is a clouded leopard?
The clouded leopard is a medium sized cat. Adults weigh about 11 to 23 kg, and males are larger than females. The head and body measure about 68 to 108 cm, and the tail adds another 61 to 91 cm, so the tail can be almost as long as the rest of the body. Standing at the shoulder it reaches roughly 50 to 55 cm. That makes it smaller than a leopard or a snow leopard, but bigger than an ocelot or a lynx. Its body is low and long, with short, powerful legs and very broad paws, a build made for climbing rather than for long chases. The coat is grayish to golden brown, with large dark blotches edged in black that look like clouds, smaller black spots on the head and legs, and black rings on the thick, furry tail. Each animal has its own pattern. In the forest these blotches break up the cat's outline, so it can disappear on a branch only a few meters from a person. Clouded leopards in captivity are often a little heavier than wild ones, which is why weights in some sources reach above 20 kg.
Where do clouded leopards live?
Clouded leopards live in 10 countries: Nepal, Bhutan, India, Bangladesh, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Peninsular Malaysia. The IUCN considers them possibly still present in Vietnam, and they are extinct in Taiwan. On Borneo and Sumatra their place is taken by the Sunda clouded leopard, a separate species. Their range starts in the Himalayan foothills of Nepal and Bhutan and continues through northeastern India, where they live in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and other states, into southern China, Myanmar and the forests of Indochina, and south to the Malay Peninsula. They depend on forest, especially tall evergreen and semi evergreen forest, but they also use dry forest, secondary forest, scrub and, in places, mangroves. The IUCN records them from sea level to 3,500 meters, and a camera trap even photographed one at about 3,700 meters in a community forest in Nagaland. Densities vary a lot: studies have found from less than one to about five clouded leopards per 100 square kilometers, with the highest density recorded in Dampa Tiger Reserve, Mizoram. Large, connected forests are what they need most.
What do clouded leopards eat?
Clouded leopards are carnivores that hunt a wide range of animals, both on the forest floor and in the trees. Their prey includes muntjacs, or barking deer, hog deer, young sambar, mouse deer and wild pigs, as well as monkeys such as macaques and langurs, slow lorises, porcupines, civets, squirrels, rats and birds. Their long canines allow them to kill fairly large animals with a bite to the back of the neck, and their broad paws help them hold on to struggling prey. For a long time people believed that clouded leopards hunted mostly by dropping onto prey from branches, but studies with radio collars and camera traps show that they spend a lot of time hunting on the ground, walking forest trails like other cats. Trees remain important for resting, escaping danger and catching animals such as monkeys and birds. Because these cats are so rarely seen, much of what is known about their diet comes from scats, camera traps and the few animals followed with collars, for example in Phu Khieo Wildlife Sanctuary in Thailand. Where forests are hunted out by people, clouded leopards lose their prey, and occasionally they take chickens or goats from villages near the forest edge.
How do clouded leopards climb? Life in the trees
Few cats can match the clouded leopard in the trees. Its hind ankles can rotate backward, which lets it climb down vertical trunks headfirst, grip the underside of branches and even hang upside down by its hind feet. The broad paws work like grappling hooks, and the long, heavy tail keeps it balanced as it moves along thin branches. Only a few other cats, such as the margay of the Americas, can do something similar. In captivity clouded leopards have been seen running along the underside of horizontal branches like a squirrel. In the wild, however, they spend more time on the ground than once believed, and they climb mostly to rest, to hunt monkeys and birds and to escape danger. Adults are solitary and use home ranges of a few dozen square kilometers, which they mark with scent and scratches. Radio collar studies in Thailand showed that they are active at night but also at dawn, dusk and parts of the day, a pattern that may help them avoid tigers and leopards. Clouded leopards cannot roar like big cats; they communicate with a soft snort called a chuff or prusten, mews, growls and hisses.
Clouded leopard kittens and cubs
Clouded leopards breed after a gestation of about 85 to 95 days, and the female gives birth to one to five cubs, usually two or three. In the wild, dens are thought to be in tree hollows, dense undergrowth or rock crevices, but almost everything known about the cubs comes from zoos. Newborn clouded leopard kittens weigh only about 140 to 280 grams and are born blind. Their coat is darker than an adult's, with solid black spots instead of open cloud shapes; the clouded pattern appears as they grow. They open their eyes at around 10 to 14 days, start to walk and climb within a few weeks, and leave the nest at about five weeks old. Weaning takes place at around three months. Young clouded leopards stay with their mother for many months while they learn to hunt, and they become independent at about one and a half to two years old. They can breed at around two to two and a half years. Breeding clouded leopards in zoos was very difficult for a long time, because males often attacked females. Today zoos raise pairs together from a young age, which has made breeding much more successful.
Is the clouded leopard endangered? How many are left
The IUCN lists the clouded leopard as Vulnerable under criteria A2cd+4cd, which means its population has fallen and is expected to keep falling by about 30 percent over three generations because of habitat loss and hunting. The assessment was made in 2020 and published in 2021. It estimates 3,700 to 5,580 mature individuals, a decreasing population and a generation length of seven years. The biggest threat is the loss of forest. Southeast Asia has one of the highest deforestation rates in the world, as forests are cleared for oil palm, rubber, other crops, logging, roads and dams. When forests are broken into small pieces, clouded leopards lose prey and space, and small groups become isolated. Hunting is the second major threat. Clouded leopards are killed for their skins, teeth and bones, which are sold in wildlife markets, and many die in snares set for other animals, a huge problem in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. The species is protected by law in most of its range and listed in CITES Appendix I. Conservation focuses on protecting large forest blocks, removing snares, stopping the trade and monitoring cats with camera traps. International Clouded Leopard Day, on August 4, helps draw attention to this little known cat.
The extinct clouded leopard of Taiwan
Taiwan once had its own clouded leopard, known as the Formosan clouded leopard. It was the island's largest native predator and appears in the stories of Taiwan's Indigenous peoples, for whom it was a respected animal. The Rukai people, for example, tell of a clouded leopard that guided their ancestors to the land where they settled. Hunting and the clearing of lowland forests pushed it into the mountains, and the last reliable records date from decades ago. Between 1997 and 2012, a team of Taiwanese and American researchers searched the island's most remote mountain forests with around 1,500 camera traps and scent traps. They photographed many other animals but not a single clouded leopard, and in 2013 they concluded that the cat was extinct in Taiwan. The IUCN now lists it as extinct there. Its disappearance is often cited as a warning: a forest can still look green and wild while its top predator has quietly vanished, because the prey had been overhunted and the remaining forest was too small and broken up. Researchers have discussed whether clouded leopards could one day be reintroduced to Taiwan, but that would first require large protected forests with enough prey.
