Clouded Leopard - Population

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Clouded Leopard

The Clouded Leopard has a long, narrow body, large tail, relatively short legs, and large broad paws. They are the most amazingly marked of all the cats. Its side pattern consists of some 6 large, narrow, brown blotches, edged in black, and pale areas separating the blotches. On their undersides are pale with few spots. They have long canines for shredding meat. The snout is rather broad , the head is quite narrow, and the pupils yellow. The adult male Clouded Leopard is approximately 6 feet long, and weighs between 35 and 50 pounds, the females are a bit smaller.

They prefer to live deep in the forest away from human settlements. They are found in Nepal and Sikkim to southern China, Hainan and Formosa and South to Sumatra, the Malay states and Borneo's montane forests.

Clouded Leopards main prey is monkeys, wild boars, and small deer, which it attacks from the trees and stalks from the ground. They may also eat birds rodents, or domestic chicken or turkey.

Clouded Leopards are excellent tree climbers; they use their long heavy tails for balance. They are nocturnal animals, they prefer seclusion, and are seen rarely. They spend the daylight hours sleeping in trees, while during night time they spend their time hunting by stalking their prey from the ground or the trees. Not much else is known of their social organization. The only time they are not solitary is during mating season. The pregnancy last for 90 days, the mother then gives birth to a litter of 2 to 4 cubs, the cubs are usually born in a hollow tree. The cubs eyes open after 10 to 12 days, and they are active after about 5 weeks.

The exact population of the Clouded Leopard is not known, the population is thought to be declining because of the number of pelts available on the black market and that the number of Leopard sittings people that live close to where the Leopards are usually found. The Clouded Leopard has been known to live for 7 years in captivity, how long it lives in the wild is unknown.

The Clouded Leopard is currently endangered. It is endangered because its habitat is being destroyed through logging advance of the human population, poaching for its pelt, and hunting because it kills livestock. The Clouded Leopard is protected by CITES, Appendix I, and the Endangered Species Act. Unfortunately attempts to start captive breeding programs in zoos have been put on hold because of lack of proper breeding protocols and inadequate information.