The picture below is Guizhou in Southern China. There appears to be a lot of deforestation, which is probably the greatest threat to the Clouded Leopards survival. The preferred habitat is subtropical and tropical forest up to 2,000 feet. The other threat is Chinese Medicine
, which I am afraid is a threat to a large number of wild and endangered animals including the Bengal tiger, as an example only. It really is time the Chinese authorities created laws and regulations to exercise some control over this form of medicine, which is rooted in the past. It promotes illegal hunting of this animal.
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| Above – Deforestation in Bhutan | Above – Guizhou in Southern China |
This cat prefers closed, primary, tropical, evergreen forest. Although they have been found in logged forest, secondary forest and dry forest. They have also been found to inhabit areas as high as 3,000 meters in the Himalayas and in grassland and mangrove swamps.
Picture above – Indonesia tropical forest. Photo by Temboo (new window). Prey consists of:
- animals that live in trees (arboreal prey) as well as animals on the ground, which means:-
- hog deer
- slow loris (see picture below)
- bush-tailed porcupine
- Malayan pangolin
- Indochinese ground squirrel
- muntjac
- argus pheasant
Clouded leopards are crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk) and nocturnal. Photo above – author: wallyg (new window)
In Captivity
One person who has had absolutely first hand experience of this cat at close range, albeit in a captive environment is Robert Baudy who ran, managed or at least worked at what I believe to be conservation center called the Savage Kingdom. What he describes in respect of the climbing skills is astonishing but it would seem to be predictable. The Clouded leopard is built to climb. It is clearly part of the cat’s makeup and psyche.
On one occasion he recounts the time when one of his Clouded leopards climbed to the top of a 100 foot oak tree in rapid time (in less than a second, he says). When they went to get the cat down safely, this large male simply jumped off and like a flying squirrel glided to the ground, legs outstretched for wind resistance. Once the cat had landed he jumped up and climbed another tree. Robert Baudy makes the important point that in captivity the clouded leopard needs the correct environment, as for example, this cat prefers to consume prey up a tree. It seems that they need to access height. This as we know is a common feature too of the domestic cat but an essential requirement for this species.
They also have, he says, a wide vocabulary using up to 40 different sounds including mimicking other animals such as monkey calls and birds. When he first imported this cat into the USA in the 1960s and 70s the clouded leopard was an extremely rare and valuable cat (in respect of purchase for zoos, the price was about $2,500 at that time). This cat must be rarer in the wild now and calls into question, surely, the IUCN Red List designation of vulnerable.
This wildcat is hard to breed in captivity. There is a tendency for the male to kill the female; hardly conducive to good sexual relations. There would also seem to be issues with maintaining a wide enough gene pool to ensure the health of the captive population and avoid inbreeding depression. What about domestication? The Clouded leopard could be domesticated as its size makes it practical. I couldn’t find specific information but domestication except as mentioned below. It must be happening.
