CLOUDED LEOPARD
CONTEXT :
- Recently, two scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) have found that the clouded leopard plays game of hide-and-seek in the tropical canopy forests.
ABOUT CLOUDED LEOPARD :
- Clouded leopards dwell in the cloud forests of Southeast Asia and 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.
- The clouded leopard has large dusky-grey blotches and irregular spots and stripes reminiscent of clouds.
- Its head-and-body length ranges from 68.6 to 108 cm (27.0 to 42.5 in) with a 61 to 91 cm (24 to 36 in) long tail.
- It uses its tail for balancing when moving in trees and is able to climb down vertical tree trunks head first.
- It rests in trees during the day and hunts by night on the forest floor.
OTHER CHARACTERSTICS OF CLOUDED LEOPARD:
- The clouded leopard is found from Nepal, Bangladesh, and Assam (eastern India) through Indochina to Sumatra and Borneo, and northeastward to southern China and formerly Taiwan.
- The clouded leopard’s fur is of a dark grey or ochreous ground-color, often largely obliterated by black and dark dusky-grey blotched pattern.
- There are black spots on the head, and the ears are black.
- Partly fused or broken-up stripes run from the corner of the eyes over the cheek, from the corner of the mouth to the neck, and along the nape to the shoulders.
- Like all wild cats, clouded leopards are carnivores. Their chief prey are gibbons, macaques, slow loris, small deer and wild boars, which they ambush from the trees or stalk from the ground.
- Clouded leopards are sexually mature around 2 years old.
- Clouded leopards are thought to be primarily nocturnal.
- The clouded leopard is a solitary cat. Early accounts depict it as a rare, secretive, arboreal, and nocturnal inhabitant of dense primary forest.
- The average life span of the clouded leopard is 12 to 15 years, though they may live up to 17 years in human care.
CONSERVATION STATUS:
- Its total population is suspected to be fewer than 10,000 mature individuals, with a decreasing population trend, and no single population numbering more than 1,000 adults.
- It has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 2008.
THREATS TO CLOUDED LEOPARD:
Some threats to the clouded leopard include:
- Poaching
- Illegal wildlife trade
- Human-leopard conflict
- Loss of habitat
- Fragmentation of habitat
SYLLABUS: PRELIMS, ENVIRONMENT
