By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 9:09 AM on 5th March 2011
A rare and elusive big cat discovered just four years ago has been filmed in Sumatra for the first time.
The camera-shy Sunda clouded leopard has finally been snapped by a camera trap in Indonesia's Berbak National Park on the island of Sumatra.
The 22-second-long video footage shows the rare cat snaking its way through the dense jungle undergrowth.
And it provides evidence that the predator has adapted to living in tree-tops - unlike some leopards it has a long tail that ensures balance on branches.The cat also relies on long claws and highly flexible ankles to scramble among the trees - and even shimmy down tree trunks like a squirrel.
'This footage is further evidence of the rich wildlife found in Berbak National Park, and is yet another reason why it [is] essential that a conservation plan is put in place for the long-term protection of these forests,' Sarah Christie of the Zoological Society of London said.
Clouded leopards are the most elusive of the big cats, which include lions, tigers, jaguars, snow leopards and normal spotted leopards. Living across south-east Asia, into China and India, the leopards have larger cloud-like spots than ordinary leopards.
Until recently, all clouded leopards were thought to belong to a single species. However, genetic studies have shown that there are actually two distinct clouded leopard varieties.
Researchers only realised that the breed living on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra was a new species - distinct from clouded leopards living elsewhere in Asia - in 2007. The two species are thought to have split over one million years ago.
It is understood the Sunda variety has been filmed only once before - in Borneo's Tangkulap Forest Reserve last year.
Since 2008, the Sunda clouded leopard has been listed as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Researchers believe there are less than 10,000 of the cats alive in the wild.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1363099/Newest-big-cat-species-Sunda-clouded-leopard-Sumatra-filmed-time.html
Showing posts with label clouded leopard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label clouded leopard. Show all posts
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Delving Into the Past of a Big Cat: Clouded Leopard Redefined
 |
| A photograph of a clouded leopard from Borneo (Neofelis diardi borneensis) taken in 2009 by an automated camera-trap set up by the Conservation of Carnivores in Sabah (ConCaSa) project in Tangkulap Forest Reserve, Sabah Malaysia. (Credit: Photo copyright of Wilting & Mohamed, Sabah Wildlife Department, Sabah Forestry Department.) |
As shown in 2006, the genus Neofelis comprises two species living with distinct distributions. Clouded leopards from Borneo and Sumatra are genetically and morphologically highly distinct from their relatives on the mainland (Neofelis nebulosa) and thus form a separate species, the Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi).
Following up on these findings, a team of researchers led by Andreas Wilting and Joerns Fickel of the IZW collected fur and bone samples of the clouded leopard from natural history museums worldwide, with the aim of elucidating to what extent the spatially distinct populations of the Sunda clouded leopard have followed different evolutionary paths. "Although we suspected that Sunda clouded leopards on Borneo and Sumatra have likely been geographically separated since the last Ice Age, it was not known whether this long isolation had caused them to split up into separate sub-species," explains Wilting.
In the course of their study, the researchers were able to demonstrate considerable genetic differences between the two populations. Dissimilarities between populations were also found with regard to skull morphology, as shown by Per Christiansen of the University of Aalborg, Denmark, a co-author of the study.
In contrast, a comparison of coat colour patterns conducted by Andrew Kitchener from National Museums Scotland yielded only small deviations between the populations -- the authors surmise that this finding could be attributed to the highly similar tropical habitats on Borneo and Sumatra. Based on these distinct patterns of genetic and morphological variation, the researchers have now formally described two subspecies of the Sunda clouded leopard: one occurring exclusively in Sumatra, the other being endemic to Borneo.
"So far we can only speculate about the specific course of events in the evolution of the clouded leopard," says Joerns Fickel. The scientists postulate that natural disasters and global climate periods are responsible for the split into two species and subspecies. The eruption of the "super-volcano" Toba on Sumatra ~75.000 years ago is likely to have played a particularly important role in this process. As Fickel explains, this event unquestionably had extreme consequences for the Southeast Asian fauna and flora. On that account, the researchers conclude that in all likelihood, only two populations of clouded leopards survived the eruption, one in southern China (Neofelis nebulosa) and one on Borneo (Neofelis diardi). In a plausible scenario, the latter recolonised Sumatra via glacial land bridges and subsequently developed into a different subspecies as sea levels rose after the last Ice Age and isolated the two islands.
Both subspecies are classified as endangered by the IUCN, owing to the fact that they, as all other big cats, occur at low population densities and require big home ranges for their survival. In order to save the Sunda clouded leopard, it is therefore of paramount importance to protect large forest areas in Borneo and Sumatra, or at least to manage them sustainably, Wilting emphasises. For this reason, the project is being carried out in close collaboration with Sabah Wildlife Department in the Malaysian state of Sabah in Borneo. Dr. Laurentius Ambu, director of the Sabah Wildlife Department, adds that the IZW together with his department has contributed actively to efforts for the conservation of the Sunda clouded leopard in Borneo for several years, and last year, this team published the first video footage of a Sunda clouded leopard from the wild.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110122215859.htm
Delving Into the Past of a Big Cat: Clouded Leopard Redefined
|
| A photograph of a clouded leopard from Borneo (Neofelis diardi borneensis) taken in 2009 by an automated camera-trap set up by the Conservation of Carnivores in Sabah (ConCaSa) project in Tangkulap Forest Reserve, Sabah Malaysia. (Credit: Photo copyright of Wilting & Mohamed, Sabah Wildlife Department, Sabah Forestry Department.) |
As shown in 2006, the genus Neofelis comprises two species living with distinct distributions. Clouded leopards from Borneo and Sumatra are genetically and morphologically highly distinct from their relatives on the mainland (Neofelis nebulosa) and thus form a separate species, the Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi).
Following up on these findings, a team of researchers led by Andreas Wilting and Joerns Fickel of the IZW collected fur and bone samples of the clouded leopard from natural history museums worldwide, with the aim of elucidating to what extent the spatially distinct populations of the Sunda clouded leopard have followed different evolutionary paths. "Although we suspected that Sunda clouded leopards on Borneo and Sumatra have likely been geographically separated since the last Ice Age, it was not known whether this long isolation had caused them to split up into separate sub-species," explains Wilting.
In the course of their study, the researchers were able to demonstrate considerable genetic differences between the two populations. Dissimilarities between populations were also found with regard to skull morphology, as shown by Per Christiansen of the University of Aalborg, Denmark, a co-author of the study.
In contrast, a comparison of coat colour patterns conducted by Andrew Kitchener from National Museums Scotland yielded only small deviations between the populations -- the authors surmise that this finding could be attributed to the highly similar tropical habitats on Borneo and Sumatra. Based on these distinct patterns of genetic and morphological variation, the researchers have now formally described two subspecies of the Sunda clouded leopard: one occurring exclusively in Sumatra, the other being endemic to Borneo.
"So far we can only speculate about the specific course of events in the evolution of the clouded leopard," says Joerns Fickel. The scientists postulate that natural disasters and global climate periods are responsible for the split into two species and subspecies. The eruption of the "super-volcano" Toba on Sumatra ~75.000 years ago is likely to have played a particularly important role in this process. As Fickel explains, this event unquestionably had extreme consequences for the Southeast Asian fauna and flora. On that account, the researchers conclude that in all likelihood, only two populations of clouded leopards survived the eruption, one in southern China (Neofelis nebulosa) and one on Borneo (Neofelis diardi). In a plausible scenario, the latter recolonised Sumatra via glacial land bridges and subsequently developed into a different subspecies as sea levels rose after the last Ice Age and isolated the two islands.
Both subspecies are classified as endangered by the IUCN, owing to the fact that they, as all other big cats, occur at low population densities and require big home ranges for their survival. In order to save the Sunda clouded leopard, it is therefore of paramount importance to protect large forest areas in Borneo and Sumatra, or at least to manage them sustainably, Wilting emphasises. For this reason, the project is being carried out in close collaboration with Sabah Wildlife Department in the Malaysian state of Sabah in Borneo. Dr. Laurentius Ambu, director of the Sabah Wildlife Department, adds that the IZW together with his department has contributed actively to efforts for the conservation of the Sunda clouded leopard in Borneo for several years, and last year, this team published the first video footage of a Sunda clouded leopard from the wild.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110122215859.htm
Sunday, January 23, 2011
'Newest' cat Sunda leopard has two distinct species
London, Jan 23 : The 'newest' cat species-the Sunda clouded leopard-exists in reality in two distinct forms, scientists have confirmed.
This big cat is so enigmatic that researchers only realised it was a new species-distinct from clouded leopards living elsewhere in Asia-in 2007.
Now a genetic analysis has confirmed that the cat comes in two forms, one living in Sumatra, the other on Borneo, reports the BBC.
Clouded leopards are the most elusive of all the big cats, which include lions, tigers, jaguars, snow leopards and normal spotted leopards.
Until 2006, all clouded leopards were thought to belong to a single species.
As well as the better-known clouded leopard living on the Asian mainland (Neofelis nebulosa), scientists determined that a separate clouded leopard species lives on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra.
The two species are thought to have diverged over one million years ago.
This leopard is now known as the Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi), though it was previously and erroneously called the Bornean clouded leopard.
In 2010, a team of scientists working in the Dermakot Forest Reserve in Malaysia released the first footage of the cat in the wild to be made public.
Led by Andreas Wilting of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, Germany, the researchers captured images of a Sunda clouded leopard walking along a road.
Now Wilting and colleagues have published new research, which reveals even more about this mysterious cat.
They sampled 15 Sunda clouded leopards living on Borneo and 16 living in Sumatra, conducting molecular and genetic studies to reveal their origin.
The researchers also examined the skulls of 28 further Sunda clouded leopards and the fur coats of 20 specimens held in museums, as well as the coats of cats photographed on both islands.
"Although we suspected that Sunda clouded leopards on Borneo and Sumatra have likely been geographically separated since the last Ice Age, it was not known whether this long isolation had caused them to split up into separate sub-species," explained Wilting.
But his team's analysis confirms that the latest 'new' species of cat to be discovered actually comes in two forms, a Bornean subspecies N. d. borneensis and the Sumatran subspecies N. d. diardi.
Their results have been published in the journal Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.
--ANI
http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-130646.html
See also: http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9369000/9369238.stm
This big cat is so enigmatic that researchers only realised it was a new species-distinct from clouded leopards living elsewhere in Asia-in 2007.
Now a genetic analysis has confirmed that the cat comes in two forms, one living in Sumatra, the other on Borneo, reports the BBC.
Clouded leopards are the most elusive of all the big cats, which include lions, tigers, jaguars, snow leopards and normal spotted leopards.
Until 2006, all clouded leopards were thought to belong to a single species.
As well as the better-known clouded leopard living on the Asian mainland (Neofelis nebulosa), scientists determined that a separate clouded leopard species lives on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra.
The two species are thought to have diverged over one million years ago.
This leopard is now known as the Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi), though it was previously and erroneously called the Bornean clouded leopard.
In 2010, a team of scientists working in the Dermakot Forest Reserve in Malaysia released the first footage of the cat in the wild to be made public.
Led by Andreas Wilting of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, Germany, the researchers captured images of a Sunda clouded leopard walking along a road.
Now Wilting and colleagues have published new research, which reveals even more about this mysterious cat.
They sampled 15 Sunda clouded leopards living on Borneo and 16 living in Sumatra, conducting molecular and genetic studies to reveal their origin.
The researchers also examined the skulls of 28 further Sunda clouded leopards and the fur coats of 20 specimens held in museums, as well as the coats of cats photographed on both islands.
"Although we suspected that Sunda clouded leopards on Borneo and Sumatra have likely been geographically separated since the last Ice Age, it was not known whether this long isolation had caused them to split up into separate sub-species," explained Wilting.
But his team's analysis confirms that the latest 'new' species of cat to be discovered actually comes in two forms, a Bornean subspecies N. d. borneensis and the Sumatran subspecies N. d. diardi.
Their results have been published in the journal Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.
--ANI
http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-130646.html
See also: http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9369000/9369238.stm
'Newest' cat Sunda leopard has two distinct species
London, Jan 23 : The 'newest' cat species-the Sunda clouded leopard-exists in reality in two distinct forms, scientists have confirmed.
This big cat is so enigmatic that researchers only realised it was a new species-distinct from clouded leopards living elsewhere in Asia-in 2007.
Now a genetic analysis has confirmed that the cat comes in two forms, one living in Sumatra, the other on Borneo, reports the BBC.
Clouded leopards are the most elusive of all the big cats, which include lions, tigers, jaguars, snow leopards and normal spotted leopards.
Until 2006, all clouded leopards were thought to belong to a single species.
As well as the better-known clouded leopard living on the Asian mainland (Neofelis nebulosa), scientists determined that a separate clouded leopard species lives on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra.
The two species are thought to have diverged over one million years ago.
This leopard is now known as the Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi), though it was previously and erroneously called the Bornean clouded leopard.
In 2010, a team of scientists working in the Dermakot Forest Reserve in Malaysia released the first footage of the cat in the wild to be made public.
Led by Andreas Wilting of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, Germany, the researchers captured images of a Sunda clouded leopard walking along a road.
Now Wilting and colleagues have published new research, which reveals even more about this mysterious cat.
They sampled 15 Sunda clouded leopards living on Borneo and 16 living in Sumatra, conducting molecular and genetic studies to reveal their origin.
The researchers also examined the skulls of 28 further Sunda clouded leopards and the fur coats of 20 specimens held in museums, as well as the coats of cats photographed on both islands.
"Although we suspected that Sunda clouded leopards on Borneo and Sumatra have likely been geographically separated since the last Ice Age, it was not known whether this long isolation had caused them to split up into separate sub-species," explained Wilting.
But his team's analysis confirms that the latest 'new' species of cat to be discovered actually comes in two forms, a Bornean subspecies N. d. borneensis and the Sumatran subspecies N. d. diardi.
Their results have been published in the journal Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.
--ANI
http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-130646.html
See also: http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9369000/9369238.stm
This big cat is so enigmatic that researchers only realised it was a new species-distinct from clouded leopards living elsewhere in Asia-in 2007.
Now a genetic analysis has confirmed that the cat comes in two forms, one living in Sumatra, the other on Borneo, reports the BBC.
Clouded leopards are the most elusive of all the big cats, which include lions, tigers, jaguars, snow leopards and normal spotted leopards.
Until 2006, all clouded leopards were thought to belong to a single species.
As well as the better-known clouded leopard living on the Asian mainland (Neofelis nebulosa), scientists determined that a separate clouded leopard species lives on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra.
The two species are thought to have diverged over one million years ago.
This leopard is now known as the Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi), though it was previously and erroneously called the Bornean clouded leopard.
In 2010, a team of scientists working in the Dermakot Forest Reserve in Malaysia released the first footage of the cat in the wild to be made public.
Led by Andreas Wilting of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, Germany, the researchers captured images of a Sunda clouded leopard walking along a road.
Now Wilting and colleagues have published new research, which reveals even more about this mysterious cat.
They sampled 15 Sunda clouded leopards living on Borneo and 16 living in Sumatra, conducting molecular and genetic studies to reveal their origin.
The researchers also examined the skulls of 28 further Sunda clouded leopards and the fur coats of 20 specimens held in museums, as well as the coats of cats photographed on both islands.
"Although we suspected that Sunda clouded leopards on Borneo and Sumatra have likely been geographically separated since the last Ice Age, it was not known whether this long isolation had caused them to split up into separate sub-species," explained Wilting.
But his team's analysis confirms that the latest 'new' species of cat to be discovered actually comes in two forms, a Bornean subspecies N. d. borneensis and the Sumatran subspecies N. d. diardi.
Their results have been published in the journal Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.
--ANI
http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-130646.html
See also: http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9369000/9369238.stm
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Endangered Bornean Clouded Leopard Facing Habitat Loss
Bandar Seri Begawan - A Recent sighting of the endangered Bornean Clouded Leopard during daylight in a populated neighbourhood in Labi showed that the nocturnal wild-cat species are disturbed and facing habitat loss, a wildlife expert said yesterday.
One of the most elusive animals in the world, the Clouded Leopard inhabits dense forests.
But on October 31 this year, a local man managed to capture a photo of the clouded leopard, scientifically known as Neofelis diardi, behind his old house on Jalan Labi Lama in Mukim Labi, in Belait District.
Dr Joseph Charles, a senior lecturer at Universiti Brunei Darussalam's (UBD) Biology Department and project leader of a faunal biodiversity survey in the forests of Sg Ingei in Belait, commented that the surrounding of the house where the picture was taken was of secondary forest.
"You see in the picture, the cat was walking on a fallen tree trunk, surrounded by bushes and further up there is a forest, so when it comes down there (closer to a neighbour-hood), it's because the forest is gone," he explained to The Brunei Times.
He added: "This animal is nocturnal, if they come down to the place (a neighbourhood), either it's hungry, couldn't sleep anywhere in peace (or) is very disturbed."
Sharing his sighting with the paper, Adi Aizal said he and his family were cleaning up the old house which belong to the family when he saw the leopard climbed down a tree.
"We were at the back of the old family house, clearing and cleaning up when I realised there were some noise and movements up in the trees," said the 34-year-old.
"When it came down, the tail was as long as its body, so it was actually very surreal to me, as I've never seen a cat as big as this before," said Adi, who never knew the existence of the leopard before die sighting.
He then ran to his car to get his camera and took a picture of the cat.
"It looked dazed, as if it just woke up. It was looking at us for a good one or two minutes, then walked away," said the Kuala Belait native who is a helicopter pilot with Bristow Helicopters International operating in Libya.
After the sighting, he searched for information of the leopard on the Internet and contacted an administration member of the Sg Ingei project to inform them about his sighting.
Dr Charles had earlier said that a team would come back to the location of the sighting in January next year to set up camera traps and collect data of the animal.
Deforestation in the tropical regions of Southeast Asia is the most serious threat to the clouded leopard.
The species natural habitat has been fragmented and decreasing at a rate of 10 per cent a year since 1997, according to an information on the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) website. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times
http://www.brudirect.com/index.php/2010121835537/Local-News/endangered-bornean-clouded-leopard-facing-habitat-loss.html
One of the most elusive animals in the world, the Clouded Leopard inhabits dense forests.
But on October 31 this year, a local man managed to capture a photo of the clouded leopard, scientifically known as Neofelis diardi, behind his old house on Jalan Labi Lama in Mukim Labi, in Belait District.
Dr Joseph Charles, a senior lecturer at Universiti Brunei Darussalam's (UBD) Biology Department and project leader of a faunal biodiversity survey in the forests of Sg Ingei in Belait, commented that the surrounding of the house where the picture was taken was of secondary forest.
"You see in the picture, the cat was walking on a fallen tree trunk, surrounded by bushes and further up there is a forest, so when it comes down there (closer to a neighbour-hood), it's because the forest is gone," he explained to The Brunei Times.
He added: "This animal is nocturnal, if they come down to the place (a neighbourhood), either it's hungry, couldn't sleep anywhere in peace (or) is very disturbed."
Sharing his sighting with the paper, Adi Aizal said he and his family were cleaning up the old house which belong to the family when he saw the leopard climbed down a tree.
"We were at the back of the old family house, clearing and cleaning up when I realised there were some noise and movements up in the trees," said the 34-year-old.
"When it came down, the tail was as long as its body, so it was actually very surreal to me, as I've never seen a cat as big as this before," said Adi, who never knew the existence of the leopard before die sighting.
He then ran to his car to get his camera and took a picture of the cat.
"It looked dazed, as if it just woke up. It was looking at us for a good one or two minutes, then walked away," said the Kuala Belait native who is a helicopter pilot with Bristow Helicopters International operating in Libya.
After the sighting, he searched for information of the leopard on the Internet and contacted an administration member of the Sg Ingei project to inform them about his sighting.
Dr Charles had earlier said that a team would come back to the location of the sighting in January next year to set up camera traps and collect data of the animal.
Deforestation in the tropical regions of Southeast Asia is the most serious threat to the clouded leopard.
The species natural habitat has been fragmented and decreasing at a rate of 10 per cent a year since 1997, according to an information on the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) website. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times
http://www.brudirect.com/index.php/2010121835537/Local-News/endangered-bornean-clouded-leopard-facing-habitat-loss.html
Endangered Bornean Clouded Leopard Facing Habitat Loss
Bandar Seri Begawan - A Recent sighting of the endangered Bornean Clouded Leopard during daylight in a populated neighbourhood in Labi showed that the nocturnal wild-cat species are disturbed and facing habitat loss, a wildlife expert said yesterday.
One of the most elusive animals in the world, the Clouded Leopard inhabits dense forests.
But on October 31 this year, a local man managed to capture a photo of the clouded leopard, scientifically known as Neofelis diardi, behind his old house on Jalan Labi Lama in Mukim Labi, in Belait District.
Dr Joseph Charles, a senior lecturer at Universiti Brunei Darussalam's (UBD) Biology Department and project leader of a faunal biodiversity survey in the forests of Sg Ingei in Belait, commented that the surrounding of the house where the picture was taken was of secondary forest.
"You see in the picture, the cat was walking on a fallen tree trunk, surrounded by bushes and further up there is a forest, so when it comes down there (closer to a neighbour-hood), it's because the forest is gone," he explained to The Brunei Times.
He added: "This animal is nocturnal, if they come down to the place (a neighbourhood), either it's hungry, couldn't sleep anywhere in peace (or) is very disturbed."
Sharing his sighting with the paper, Adi Aizal said he and his family were cleaning up the old house which belong to the family when he saw the leopard climbed down a tree.
"We were at the back of the old family house, clearing and cleaning up when I realised there were some noise and movements up in the trees," said the 34-year-old.
"When it came down, the tail was as long as its body, so it was actually very surreal to me, as I've never seen a cat as big as this before," said Adi, who never knew the existence of the leopard before die sighting.
He then ran to his car to get his camera and took a picture of the cat.
"It looked dazed, as if it just woke up. It was looking at us for a good one or two minutes, then walked away," said the Kuala Belait native who is a helicopter pilot with Bristow Helicopters International operating in Libya.
After the sighting, he searched for information of the leopard on the Internet and contacted an administration member of the Sg Ingei project to inform them about his sighting.
Dr Charles had earlier said that a team would come back to the location of the sighting in January next year to set up camera traps and collect data of the animal.
Deforestation in the tropical regions of Southeast Asia is the most serious threat to the clouded leopard.
The species natural habitat has been fragmented and decreasing at a rate of 10 per cent a year since 1997, according to an information on the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) website. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times
http://www.brudirect.com/index.php/2010121835537/Local-News/endangered-bornean-clouded-leopard-facing-habitat-loss.html
One of the most elusive animals in the world, the Clouded Leopard inhabits dense forests.
But on October 31 this year, a local man managed to capture a photo of the clouded leopard, scientifically known as Neofelis diardi, behind his old house on Jalan Labi Lama in Mukim Labi, in Belait District.
Dr Joseph Charles, a senior lecturer at Universiti Brunei Darussalam's (UBD) Biology Department and project leader of a faunal biodiversity survey in the forests of Sg Ingei in Belait, commented that the surrounding of the house where the picture was taken was of secondary forest.
"You see in the picture, the cat was walking on a fallen tree trunk, surrounded by bushes and further up there is a forest, so when it comes down there (closer to a neighbour-hood), it's because the forest is gone," he explained to The Brunei Times.
He added: "This animal is nocturnal, if they come down to the place (a neighbourhood), either it's hungry, couldn't sleep anywhere in peace (or) is very disturbed."
Sharing his sighting with the paper, Adi Aizal said he and his family were cleaning up the old house which belong to the family when he saw the leopard climbed down a tree.
"We were at the back of the old family house, clearing and cleaning up when I realised there were some noise and movements up in the trees," said the 34-year-old.
"When it came down, the tail was as long as its body, so it was actually very surreal to me, as I've never seen a cat as big as this before," said Adi, who never knew the existence of the leopard before die sighting.
He then ran to his car to get his camera and took a picture of the cat.
"It looked dazed, as if it just woke up. It was looking at us for a good one or two minutes, then walked away," said the Kuala Belait native who is a helicopter pilot with Bristow Helicopters International operating in Libya.
After the sighting, he searched for information of the leopard on the Internet and contacted an administration member of the Sg Ingei project to inform them about his sighting.
Dr Charles had earlier said that a team would come back to the location of the sighting in January next year to set up camera traps and collect data of the animal.
Deforestation in the tropical regions of Southeast Asia is the most serious threat to the clouded leopard.
The species natural habitat has been fragmented and decreasing at a rate of 10 per cent a year since 1997, according to an information on the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) website. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times
http://www.brudirect.com/index.php/2010121835537/Local-News/endangered-bornean-clouded-leopard-facing-habitat-loss.html
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Orphaned clouded leopard cubs returned to wild
May 2010: Two clouded leopard cubs have been radio-collared and returned to the wild in India.
The Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and its partner the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) were behind the project, thought to be the first of its kind in India.
The collars will help rehabilitators track the movement of the cubs as they become completely independent of human care and begin exploring on their own.
The orphaned cubs were rescued by the Assam Forest Department in March last year and hand-raised at an IFAW-supported mobile veterinary station. Since September 2009, the cubs have been living in Manas National Park to acclimatise to the wild.
Only about 10,000 remain
‘The cubs have undergone eight months of acclimatisation in the wild,' explained Dr NVK Ashraf, wildlife rescue director at the WTI. ‘Initially, they were taken for walks during the day, while being kept in a spacious enclosure at night for safety. In the past two months, the cubs were allowed to be in the wild full-time. As the cubs are now free-ranging and no longer dependent on the enclosure, it was prudent to radio-collar them for monitoring.'
Only about 10,000 clouded leopards remain in the wild - and the species is classified as ‘vulnerable' in the IUCN Red List of threatened species. An extremely shy, nocturnal and tree-dwelling animal, it is found in the north-east of India.
‘We are doing everything possible to assure a successful transition back to the wild for these animals,' said Dr Ian Robinson, IFAW's emergency relief director. ‘We are using expandable collars and they are expected to remain in place for a year, if not longer. They will stretch and fall off due to normal wear and tear.'
The head of the forest department at BTC, G.C. Basumatary says there is much excitement about the radio-collar project. ‘BTC has been supporting this effort to rehabilitate these clouded leopards in Ripu Reserve Forest - part of Manas Tiger Reserve - and we are eagerly waiting for the result.
‘The clouded leopard is seen in limited numbers in these forests and this effort will contribute in the conservation of this rare animal.'
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/leopard-conservation.html
The Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and its partner the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) were behind the project, thought to be the first of its kind in India.
The collars will help rehabilitators track the movement of the cubs as they become completely independent of human care and begin exploring on their own.
The orphaned cubs were rescued by the Assam Forest Department in March last year and hand-raised at an IFAW-supported mobile veterinary station. Since September 2009, the cubs have been living in Manas National Park to acclimatise to the wild.
Only about 10,000 remain
‘The cubs have undergone eight months of acclimatisation in the wild,' explained Dr NVK Ashraf, wildlife rescue director at the WTI. ‘Initially, they were taken for walks during the day, while being kept in a spacious enclosure at night for safety. In the past two months, the cubs were allowed to be in the wild full-time. As the cubs are now free-ranging and no longer dependent on the enclosure, it was prudent to radio-collar them for monitoring.'
Only about 10,000 clouded leopards remain in the wild - and the species is classified as ‘vulnerable' in the IUCN Red List of threatened species. An extremely shy, nocturnal and tree-dwelling animal, it is found in the north-east of India.
‘We are doing everything possible to assure a successful transition back to the wild for these animals,' said Dr Ian Robinson, IFAW's emergency relief director. ‘We are using expandable collars and they are expected to remain in place for a year, if not longer. They will stretch and fall off due to normal wear and tear.'
The head of the forest department at BTC, G.C. Basumatary says there is much excitement about the radio-collar project. ‘BTC has been supporting this effort to rehabilitate these clouded leopards in Ripu Reserve Forest - part of Manas Tiger Reserve - and we are eagerly waiting for the result.
‘The clouded leopard is seen in limited numbers in these forests and this effort will contribute in the conservation of this rare animal.'
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/leopard-conservation.html
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