On the Trail of Borneo’s Clouded Leopards
Borneo is home to five species of wild cats, including the endangered Sunda clouded leopard, Neofelis diardii. I was privileged to spend time with several teams studying this elusive creature using camera traps, radio telemetry, and fecal DNA analysis. Despite several trips there, I never had a glimpse of a cloudie, but was lucky to see a marbled cat and experience life in the tropical Asian forest.
Clouded leopards are endangered in part due to poaching for their stunning coats. Researchers are studying the impact of habitat alteration and loss, including both logging and the wide-scale conversion of forest to oil palm plantations.
Visit The Clouded Leopard Project for more information and to donate to ongoing field research projects.
Visit University of Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit to learn about the Clouded Leopard Programme.
When not resting like zoo-born Raja, clouded leopards are climbing champions. Able to run down trees headfirst and balance with crazy long tails, this arboreal acrobat hunts monkeys, small deer and anything it can get its giant canine teeth on. Their cloud-like spots provide perfect camouflage in the Asian forest but make studying this seldom seen cat extremely difficult.
The humid rainforest of Malaysian Borneo serving as the research site.
Night spotlighting sometimes reveals glimpses of secretive nocturnal creatures.
A marbled cat rests in a tree, observed while spotlighting.
Prepping field cameras.
Some research sites are in active logging areas.
Selecting camera sites in a logging area.
Deploying a field camera along a logging road.
Researchers reviewing images from a field camera, smiling at capturing a wild cat photo.
A leopard cat image from a field camera.
One of the research teams in Borneo.
Danum Valley, home to the elusive clouded leopard.
The research team discussing the plan for a day of tracking radio collared cats.
Collecting a fecal sample for DNA analysis.
Picking up a signal from a collared clouded leopard.
An oil palm plantation.
Tankers of palm oil are a common site on Borneo roads.
Endless acres of oil palm trees covering all but the more mountainous portions of the landscape.
A native plant nursery preps seedlings for forest restoration.
Learning how clouded leopards use their habitat will help determine ways that wild cats can co-exist with all the other uses of Borneo's forests.