Elephant Puppets clouded leopard update ๐โโฌ
2The clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa), also called mainland clouded leopard, is a wild cat inhabiting dense forests from the foothills of the Himalayas through Northeast India and Bhutan to mainland Southeast Asia into South China. It was first described in 1821 on the basis of a skin of an individual from China. The clouded leopard has large dusky-grey blotches and irregular spots and stripes reminiscent of clouds. Its head-and-body length ranges from 68.6 to 108 cm (27.0 to 42.5 in) with a 61 to 91 cm (24 to 36 in) long tail. It uses its tail for balancing when moving in trees and is able to climb down vertical tree trunks head first. It rests in trees during the day and hunts by night on the forest floor.
The clouded leopard is the sister taxon to other pantherine cats, having genetically diverged 9.32 to 4.47 million years ago. Today, the clouded leopard is locally extinct in Singapore, Taiwan, and possibly also in Hainan Island and Vietnam. The wild population is believed to be in decline with fewer than 10,000 adults and no more than 1,000 in each subpopulation. It has therefore been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 2008. The population is threatened by largeโscale deforestation and commercial poaching for the wildlife trade. Its body parts are offered for decoration and clothing, though it is legally protected in most range countries.
The clouded leopard has been kept in zoological gardens since the early 20th century. Captive breeding programs were initiated in the 1980s. In captivity, the clouded leopard has an average lifespan of 11 years.
Felis nebulosa was proposed by Edward Griffith in 1821 who first described a skin of a clouded leopard that was brought alive from Guangdong in China to the menagerie at Exeter Exchange in London.[3] Felis macrosceloides proposed by Brian Houghton Hodgson in 1841 was a clouded leopard specimen from Nepal.[4][5] Felis brachyura proposed by Robert Swinhoe in 1862 was a clouded leopard skin from Taiwan.[6] The generic name Neofelis was proposed by John Edward Gray in 1867 who subordinated all three to this genus.[7] At present, N. nebulosa is considered a monotypic species due to lack of evidence for subspeciation.[8]
Felis diardi proposed by Georges Cuvier in 1823 was based on a clouded leopard skin from Java.[9] It was considered a clouded leopard subspecies by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1917.[10] In 2006, it was identified as a distinct Neofelis species, the Sunda clouded leopard.[11][12] Populations in Taiwan and Hainan Island are considered to belong to the mainland clouded leopard.[8]
Skulls of clouded leopard and Panthera species were analysed morphologically in the 1960s. Results indicate that the clouded leopard forms an evolutionary link between the Pantherinae and the Felinae.[13] Phylogenetic analysis of the nuclear DNA in tissue samples from all Felidae species revealed that the evolutionary radiation of the Felidae began in the Miocene around 14.45 to 8.38 million years ago in Asia.[14][15] Analysis of mitochondrial DNA of all Felidae species indicates a radiation at 16.76 to 6.46 million years ago.[16] The clouded leopard is the sister taxon to all other members of the Pantherinae, diverging 9.32 to 4.47 million years ago, based on analysis of their nuclear DNA.[14] The clouded leopard from mainland Asia reached Borneo and Sumatra via a now submerged land bridge probably during the Pleistocene, when populations became isolated during periods of global cooling and warming. Genetic analysis of hair samples of the clouded leopard and its sister species the Sunda clouded leopard (N. diardi) indicates that they diverged 2.0โ0.93 million years ago.[11
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Asian Drums - Vadodara by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
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