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Neofelis nebulosa
– Vulnerable
Taxonomy
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Kingdom:
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ANIMALIA
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Phylum:
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CHORDATA
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Class:
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MAMMALIA
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Order:
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CARNIVORA
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Family:
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FELIDAE
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Scientific Name:
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Neofelis nebulosa
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Species Authority:
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(Griffith, 1821)
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Common Name/s:
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CLOUDED LEOPARD (Eng)
PANTHÈRE LONGIBANDE (Fre)
PANTHÈRE NÉBULEUSE (Fre)
PANTERA DEL HIMALAYA (Spa)
PANTERA LONGIBANDA (Spa)
PANTERA NEBULOSA (Spa)
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Assessment Information
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Red List Category & Criteria:
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VU C2a(i) ver 3.1 (2001)
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Year Assessed:
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2002
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Assessor/s:
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Cat Specialist Group
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Evaluator/s:
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Nowell, K., Breitenmoser, U. & Jackson, P. (Cat Red List Authority)
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Justification:
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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.
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History:
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| 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) |
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Geographic Range
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Range Description:
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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.
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Countries:
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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
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Population
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Population:
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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.).
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Population Trend:
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Habitat and Ecology
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Habitat and Ecology:
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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).
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System:
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Terrestrial; Freshwater; Marine
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Threats
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Threats:
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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).
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Conservation Actions
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Conservation Actions:
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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).
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