(Neofelis nebulosa)
| The clouded leopard is one of the most beautiful and elusive of all cats. This medium sized cat has a long narrow body, short legs, large paws and very distinctive markings, with dark lines and spots on the face, head and ears. It's coat is smattered with large squarish tawny colored blotches with darker outer edges, and it's tail banded with incomplete dark rings. |  |
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Clouded leopards have remarkably long tails, which can account for as much as fifty percent of their overall length, and help them balance while in the trees. Male clouded leopards can grow to about six feet in length, and generally weigh between 40 and 50 pounds, the females around 35 pounds. They are excellent climbers, and often hunt by dropping from the trees onto their unsuspecting prey, but are also known to stalk their quarry from the ground. |
| Clouded leopards are native to to southeast Asia, Nepal, northeast India, Taiwan, Borneo, and southern China, and show a distinct preference for a rain-forest type environment. These beautiful cats are nocturnal, and spend most of the day sleeping in the trees. Although this cat is named "leopard", because of it's unique qualities, it is placed in a genus of it's own. The clouded leopard has long sharp canines, not unlike those of a prehistoric saber-toothed cat, and pupils that are oblong rather than round or linear as most cats do. Very little is known about the clouded leopards social hierarchy, but they are believed to be solitary except during the breeding season. |  |
Because of habitat destruction and illegal poaching, (for it's coat brings a high price on the black market), the clouded leopard is a vulnerable species. At present, however, there is no accurate information on the population size of clouded leopards in the wild. In Taiwan, the native leopard is believed by some to be extinct, as there have been only three sightings recorded in the last forty years. The lack of biological and mathematical information about these cats is severely hampering conservationists efforts to prolong the species. For this reason, in 1995 there was a Clouded Leopard Population and Habitat Viability Assessment held at he Taipei Municipal Zoo. During this conference the group of specialists proposed a set of potential protocols to restore the clouded leopard population including biological survey, environmental education, site assessment (for land reclamation, acquisition and preparation prior to re-introduction), and a captive breeding program to provide healthy cats to release into the wild.
Even so, the future of these cats is yet unknown. For more information about the clouded leopard, visit these sites.......
Clouded Leopard -- Defenders of Wildlife
Clouded Leopard (Neofelis nebulosa nebulosa)
The Cyber Zoomobile - Clouded Leopard
