Neofelis nebulosa

– Vulnerable

Taxonomy

Kingdom:

ANIMALIA

Phylum:

CHORDATA

Class:

MAMMALIA

Order:

CARNIVORA

Family:

FELIDAE

Scientific Name:

Neofelis nebulosa

Species Authority:

(Griffith, 1821)

Common Name/s:

English	—	CLOUDED LEOPARD
French	—	PANTHÈRE LONGIBANDE, PANTHÈRE NÉBULEUSE
Spanish	—	PANTERA DEL HIMALAYA, PANTERA LONGIBANDA, PANTERA NEBULOSA

Assessment Information

Red List Category & Criteria:

VU C2a(i) ver 3.1 (2001)

Year Assessed:

2002

Assessor/s:

Cat Specialist Group

Evaluator/s:

Nowell, K., Breitenmoser, U. & Jackson, P. (Cat Red List Authority)

Justification:

Based on estimates of density and geographic range (Nowell and Jackson 1996), the clouded leopard’s total effective population size is estimated at below 10,000 mature breeding individuals, with a declining trend due to habitat and prey base loss and persecution, and no subpopulation containing more than 1,000 mature breeding individuals.

History:

1986	-	Vulnerable (IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1986)
1988	-	Vulnerable (IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1988)
1990	-	Vulnerable (IUCN 1990)
1994	-	Vulnerable (Groombridge 1994)
1996	-	Vulnerable (Baillie and Groombridge 1996)

Geographic Range

Range Description:

The clouded leopard historically had a wide distribution in China, south of the Yangtze, but recent records are few, habitat is fast disappearing, illegal hunting of this species has been prolific and its current status in China is poorly known. The clouded leopard is found from eastern foothills of the Himalayas through most of southeast Asia to the islands of Sumatra and Borneo.

Countries:

Native:

Bhutan; Brunei Darussalam; China; India; Indonesia (Kalimantan, Sumatera); Lao People's Democratic Republic; Malaysia; Myanmar; Nepal; Thailand; Viet Nam

Regionally extinct:

Cambodia

Possibly extinct regionally:

Bangladesh; Taiwan, Province of China

Population

Population:	The clouded leopard is one of the largest cats of Asia, but so far only one study of its behavior and ecology (in Thailand) is being carried out (Grassman 2001). Camera trap surveys conducted in several southeast Asian countries find the clouded to be relatively rare compared to other felids (M. Sunquist, K. Nowell, pers. comm.).
Population Trend:

Habitat and Ecology

Habitat and Ecology:

The clouded leopard is usually characterized as being most closely associated with primary evergreen tropical rainforest, but it also makes use of other types of habitat (Nowell and Jackson 1996). Sightings have also been made in secondary and logged forest (Davies and Payne 1982, Rabinowitz et al. 1987, Santiapillai and Ashby 1988, Johns 1989, M. Khan in litt. 1991), as well as grassland and scrub (Santiapillai and Ashby 1988, Dinerstein and Mehta 1989). In Burma and Thailand, its presence has been reported from relatively open, dry tropical forest (C. Wemmer in Dinerstein and Mehta 1989, Rabinowitz and Walker 1991). The species has also been recorded from mangrove swamps in Borneo (Davis 1962, Davies and Payne 1982). In China, N. nebulosa apparently occurs in a variety of forest types, but there is no information on habitat preference or ecology across this large portion of its geographic range (Nowell and Jackson 1996). It has been recorded in the Himalayan foothills up to 1,450 m (Biswas et al. 1985), and possibly as high as 3,000 m (Jerdon 1874).

System:

Terrestrial

List of Habitats:

1.6	Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland
3.6	Shrubland - Subtropical/Tropical Moist

Threats

Threats:

Deforestation is the thought to be foremost threat to this species. N. nebulosa is also widely hunted for its teeth and decorative pelt, and for bones for the traditional Asian medicinal trade (Nowell and Jackson 1996). Clouded leopard pelts were the most commonly available felid pelts in a survey of black market wildlife traders in south-eastern China (Low 1991). Clouded leopards have also featured on the menu of restaurants in Thailand and China which cater to wealthy Asian tourists (Anonymous 1988).

List of Threats:

1.3.3	Habitat Loss/Degradation - Extraction - Wood (ongoing)
3.1	Harvesting (hunting/gathering) - Food (past)
3.2	Harvesting (hunting/gathering) - Medicine (ongoing)
3.4	Harvesting (hunting/gathering) - Materials (ongoing)

Conservation Actions

Conservation Actions:

Included on CITES Appendix I and protected by national legislation over most of its range (Nowell and Jackson 1996). Hunting is banned in Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Taiwan, Thailand, and Viet Nam, and hunting regulations apply in Laos (Nowell and Jackson 1996).

List of Conservation Actions:

1.2.2.1	Policy-based actions - Legislation - Implementation - International level (in place)
1.2.2.2	Policy-based actions - Legislation - Implementation - National level (in place)

Bibliography

Bibliography:

Anonymous. 1988. Hong Kong gourmets frustrated. Wildlife Bulletin (WWF Hong Kong) 6: 2

Baillie, J. and Groombridge, B. (compilers and editors) 1996. 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.

Biswas, B., Ghose, R.K. and Ghosal, D.K. 1985. Progress report 2 on pilot survey of the WWF-India/Zoological survey of India collaborative project on the status survey of the lesser cats in eastern India. Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta.

Cat Specialist Group. For more information, see the Specialist Group website

Davies, G. and Payne, J. 1982. A faunal survey of Sabah. Unpublished report. WWF Malaysia for the Game Branch, Forest Department, Sabah.

Davis, D.D. 1962. Mammals of the lowland rain-forest of North Borneo. Bulletin of the Singapore Natural History Museum 31: 1-129.

Dinerstein, E. and Mehta, J.N. 1989. The clouded leopard in Nepal. Oryx 23(4): 199-201.

Grassman, L. 2001. Spatial Ecology and Conservation of the Felid Community in Phu Khieo Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand. Report to Cat Action Treasury.

Groombridge, B. (ed.) 1994. 1994 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.

IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre. 1986. 1986 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre. 1988. 1988 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

IUCN. 1990. 1990 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

IUCN. 2002. 2002 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. . Downloaded on 8 October 2002.

Jerdon, T.C. 1874. The mammals of India: natural history. John Wheldon, London.

Johns, A.D. 1989. Timber, the environment and wildlife in Malaysian rain forests. Final report to Institute of South-East Asian Biology, Univ. Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK.

Low, J. 1991. The smuggling of endangered wildlife across the Taiwan Strait. TRAFFIC International, Cambridge.

Nowell, K. and Jackson, P. (compilers and editors) 1996. Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (online version)

Rabinowitz, A.R. and Walker, S.R. 1991. The carnivore community in a dry tropical forest mosaic in Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand. Journal of Tropical Ecology 7:37-47.

Rabinowitz, A.R., Andau, P. and Chai, P.P.K. 1987. The clouded leopard in Malaysian Borneo. Oryx 22(2): 107-11

Santiapillai, C. and Ashby, K.R. 1988. The clouded leopard in Sumatra. Oryx 22(1): 44-45.

Citation:	Cat Specialist Group 2002. Neofelis nebulosa. In: IUCN 2007. 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 28 August 2008.
Disclaimer:	To make use of this information, please check the Copyright and Data Disclaimer.
Feedback:	If you see any errors or have any questions or suggestions on what is shown on this page, please fill in the feedback form so that we can correct or extend the information provided.