Clouded Leopard

About the clouded leopard

The clouded leopard, also called the mainland clouded leopard, is a wild cat named for the large, dusky-grey blotches, spots, and stripes on its coat that resemble clouds. Its head-and-body length ranges from 68.6 to 108 centimeters (27.0 to 42.5 inches), with a long tail of 61 to 91 centimeters (24 to 36 inches) that it uses for balance while moving through trees. It was first described in 1821 from the skin of an individual brought from Guangdong, China, to a menagerie in London. Genetic analysis shows it is the sister taxon to all other pantherine cats, having diverged from them 9.32 to 4.47 million years ago; a related but distinct species, the Sunda clouded leopard, was recognized in 2006 from Borneo and Sumatra.

The clouded leopard's fur ranges from dark grey to ochreous, largely covered by black and dusky-grey blotches; partly fused stripes run from the eyes across the cheeks and from the mouth to the neck and shoulders, while the flanks carry irregular blotches bordered by long, curved stripes. The underparts and legs are spotted, and the tail carries large paired spots. Its legs are short and stout, with hind limbs longer than the front limbs, aiding its jumping and climbing ability, and its build is often called a "modern-day sabre-tooth" because its canines are the longest in proportion to body size of any living cat, measuring 4 centimeters (1.6 inches) or more. Females are slightly smaller than males, weighing 11.5 to 23 kilograms (25 to 51 pounds) overall, with males reaching 81 to 108 centimeters in body length against females' 68.6 to 94 centimeters.

The species inhabits dense forest from the Himalayan foothills through Nepal, Bhutan, and Northeast India, across mainland Southeast Asia, and into South China south of the Yangtze River. It has been recorded at elevations as varied as 144 meters in India's Pakke Tiger Reserve and up to 3,720 meters in Sikkim's Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve. It is now locally extinct in Singapore and Taiwan, with the last confirmed record of the Formosan clouded leopard dating to a 1989 skin found in Taroko National Park; an extensive 1997–2012 camera-trap survey across more than 1,450 Taiwanese sites failed to find any trace of the species.

Behavior and diet

The clouded leopard is solitary, secretive, and largely nocturnal, resting in trees by day and hunting on the forest floor by night, though radio-collared animals have also shown crepuscular activity peaks. It is considered an exceptionally talented climber among cats: captive individuals have been observed climbing down tree trunks head first and hanging from branches using only their bent hind paws and tail, and they can jump more than 1.2 meters (3 feet 11 inches) high. Vocalizations include a short, high-pitched meow and a loud crying call used to locate other individuals, a friendly "prusten" greeting with raised muzzle, and growls or hisses when aggressive.

Home ranges have been studied in Thailand, where radio-collared females ranged over about 23 to 39 square kilometers and males over 30 to 49 square kilometers. When hunting, the clouded leopard stalks prey or waits for it to approach, then retreats into the trees to rest and digest after a kill. Recorded prey includes pig-tailed macaques, hog deer, brush-tailed porcupines, pangolins, ground squirrels, a slow loris, barking deer, and pheasants; in Malaysia, one male was photographed carrying a binturong in its jaws.

Both sexes reach first reproduction at an average of 26 months. Females are in estrus for about six days within a roughly 30-day cycle, and wild mating usually occurs between December and March, with pairs mating repeatedly over several days; males can be aggressive during courtship, gripping the female by the neck and occasionally biting her. After a gestation of about 93 days, females give birth to litters of one to five, most commonly three, cubs weighing 140 to 280 grams (4.9 to 9.9 ounces) at birth with closed eyes. Cubs open their eyes around 10 days, become active within five weeks, are weaned by about three months, reach adult coat pattern around six months, and become independent at roughly 10 months; males take no part in raising young.

Range and habitat

The clouded leopard occupies dense forest from the Himalayan foothills in Nepal, Bhutan, and India across Myanmar, southeastern Bangladesh, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, and south to the Yangtze River in China. Presumed extinct in Nepal, it was rediscovered there in 1987–88 and has since been recorded in several protected areas, including at elevations up to 3,498 meters in Langtang National Park. It also occurs in numerous Indian states, in Bhutan's national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, and in forest habitats of Bangladesh and Myanmar first confirmed by camera trap only in 2016 and 2015, respectively. It ranges from relatively open, dry tropical forest to closed, dense forest, and requires large areas of intact habitat, which are increasingly limited across its range.

Conservation status

The clouded leopard is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, a status held since 2008. Fewer than 10,000 adults are thought to remain, with no subpopulation exceeding 1,000 individuals. The species is threatened by large-scale deforestation and by commercial poaching for the wildlife trade: surveys in Myanmar found parts of at least 279 individuals across four markets between 1991 and 2006, and 27 cases involving at least 51 individuals were documented in Nepal between 1988 and 2020. It is listed on CITES Appendix I, and hunting is banned in Bangladesh, China, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam, though enforcement is weak in several of those countries. In the United States, it is listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, which prohibits trade in live animals or body parts. The species has been kept in zoos since the early 20th century, with captive breeding programs established in the 1980s, and International Clouded Leopard Day has been marked annually on August 4 since 2018.