Get ready, I’m taking you on a journey to discover an enigmatic animal, one of my favorites, of which we know very little because it is so difficult to observe. Don’t be too disappointed if we can’t see it. Some scientists, who have been studying it for several years, have only caught a glimpse of its shadow on video, on hidden forest cameras! To increase our chances of crossing its path, I suggest we go meet it in a place where it has been seen wandering. Let’s head to a very small country, also little known, nestled between Nepal, China, and India, in the eastern heights of the Himalayas: Bhutan.
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In Search of a Ghost in the Mists of Bhutan
Smaller than Switzerland, this Asian country, with diverse landscapes from lush humid forests to high mountain glaciers, has classified over a quarter of its area as a nature reserve. The main parks are connected by protected areas called biological corridors. They allow animals to move more easily between these different places, despite the presence of human infrastructures, such as roads.
A pair of great hornbills filmed at the Bhutanese park of Manas. © Arlette van Berkel, YouTube
To meet our heroine of the day, I suggest we go to the country’s oldest national park, established in the early 1990s, located in the southern territory: the Royal Manas National Park. Here, you can find the Bengal tiger, the Asian elephant, the powerful gaur with its wide horns, as well as the golden langur monkey with its radiant fur, and the extremely rare Indian rhinoceros, recognizable by its skin folds and unique horn. You can also find a diverse fauna in the Manas River: from long-beaked river dolphins like the Ganges River dolphin, to several species of migratory fish called mahseer. And nearly 360 bird species reside here, including no less than four species of hornbills, recognizable by their large curved beak! Oh, do you hear that one that just flew over us and landed further away is a Rufous-necked hornbill. Do you hear it?
An Animal More Discreet Than a Breeze With Cloud-Like Fur
Let’s take a walk together and then rest for a bit. Don’t expect to come across our heroine during the day! Let’s meet tonight at the observation point, a cabin high up, hidden among the tree branches. In the forest, at night, that’s where we have the best chance of seeing her. Look, on that tree, the park team has set up a camera trap. It’s a known spot for monitoring animal activity. Will we be lucky? Let’s be discreet and wait. Keep your binoculars handy to examine every blade of grass that moves. Even if we don’t encounter her tonight, let’s solve the mystery. The one I want you to meet today is not a shy little primate, a camouflaging insect blending with the bark, or a discreet bird. She is one of the most formidable predators in the area, on par with her tiger and leopard cousins who also live here. She is the clouded leopard or Neofelis nebulosa.
She is objectively a beauty, with a sublime fur coat that has also caused her many troubles. Her name clouded leopard comes from the large ocelli on her fur, huge spots with a dark outline and a lighter marbled center, resembling clouds. These patterns are complemented by long black bands running from the corners of her eyes and along her neck. Add to that a rather comical big pink nose, relatively short legs, and above all, a gigantic tail, almost as long as her body, which allows her to move effortlessly in the tree branches of her domain.
The Clouded Leopard, This Dear Unknown
If she roams the primary forest alone, preying on birds, monkeys, wild boars, and deer, both on the ground and in the canopy.The “canopy,” our feline, is of medium size. It weighs up to 20 kilograms, a weight comparable to that of the lynx in Europe. But as you may have understood, one of its greatest characteristics is its discreetness. It was only described by Europeans in the early 19th century! Therefore, very little is known about its habits, and even its population. Most of the information gathered about its behavior comes from animals living in captivity. We know that like its feline cousins, the clouded leopard uses scents a lot to mark its territory. It also emits several types of sounds to locate fellow animals, and, a unique trait, it purrs, something not all felines can do! The mother raises her young alone, and they spend nearly a year by her side.
Oh, over there, look. Is that her? Oh no, judging by the noise, it’s a lost wild boar, searching for food by rooting around in the leaves… Let’s wait a bit longer!
### Under the watchful eye of camera traps
The WWF, the World Wide Fund for Nature, recently launched a major study on Asian felines, including our clouded leopard, and they estimate its current population to be less than 10,000 individuals living in the wild. But this is very approximate. Scientists are trying to fit some animals with GPS collars and observe their habitats with cameras to better understand their habits. Other scientists, Yadav Ghimirey and Raju Acharya, who have studied the Nepalese population of our clouded leopard, published a study in 2018. It lists all the evidence they were able to identify between 1853 and 2014, including specimens preserved in museums, skins seized from poachers, wild individuals captured by camera traps, and a few rare live animals, often cubs found with private individuals. They gathered… only 22 pieces of evidence in 150 years. Our leopard is harder to come across than the Yeti!
It should be noted that there are numerous threats to their existence. It is estimated that its already low population has decreased by 30% in the past 20 years. This is due to deforestation of its habitat and poaching because its beautiful fur is still prized, as well as its bones, which are sought after in traditional Asian medicine. Conflicts also arise with humans living nearby because by destroying the forest, the chances of encountering wild animals increase, and so it happens that our leopard hunts domestic animals, making it unpopular. It is still classified as “vulnerable” on the IUCN Red List.The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies it as a fully protected species.” And there? Still not, too small. It’s a porcupine with its spiky back, making its nocturnal appearance! We might come up empty-handed tonight. But for now, let’s talk about its other peculiarities!
### Prehistoric Fangs and Acrobat Flexibility!
The clouded leopard seems equally comfortable on the ground as it is in the high branches of trees. In fact, it is the only one, along with its cousin living in South America, the margay, capable of extraordinary tree acrobatics: it can run vertically, upside down on tree trunks, or even hang like a “hanging pig” by supporting itself on a branch with only its hind legs! What a great acrobat! Even the most agile monkeys cannot match such a skilled hunter.
But its most striking anatomical feature lies in its jaws. Yes! With an average length of 5 centimeters, the clouded leopard’s canines are the largest when compared to its body size. The shape of its skull is also different from its cousins. It can open its mouth at an 85-degree angle, compared to only 65 degrees in, for example, the puma, which is more suited for capturing prey with long canines like its own! All of this is a direct legacy of the dagger-shaped teeth of smilodons and their cousins, the saber-toothed tigers, who lived during the time of our prehistoric ancestors. Pretty cool!
### Two Species of Clouded Leopard Instead of One
You may have noticed our clouded leopard has a peculiar Latin name: it belongs to the genus Neofelis and is the only member of this group. It is the perfect intermediary between small felines, such as the Felis genus, like the marbled cat or the Asian golden cat, and the large felines of the Panthera genus, like tigers and snow leopards. So, contrary to what its name suggests, it is not a panther at all, like the leopard, Panthera pardus in its Latin name, found in the African savannas and rugged mountains of continental Asia!Truly unique! In fact, since 2006, genetic analyses have shown that there are not one but two species of clouded leopard: Neofelis nebulosa, found in the Indian subcontinent, and Neofelis diardi, found on the Indonesian islands of Java and Borneo. This discovery demonstrates that these two species inhabit different environments, leading conservationists to adapt their programs to preserve their habitats and consider their distinct ways of life. Some even consider reintroducing them to Taiwan, where they have disappeared.
Every effort must be made to prevent our spotted ghost, the last survivor of prehistoric times, from vanishing forever!