Clouded leopard
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Clouded leopard ( Neofelis nebulosa ) |
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| ( Griffith , 1821) |
The clouded leopard ( Neofelis nebulosa ) is a big cat native to southeast Asia . It looks vaguely like a leopard , but is smaller and has larger, misty patches that give it its name.
features
anatomy
Clouded leopards reach a head-trunk length of 60 to 100 cm, a tail length of 60 to 90 cm and a shoulder height of about 41 cm. The weight is usually between 16 and 23 kg. The clouded leopard's physique, with its relatively short legs and long tail, is ideally suited to climbing. The unusually long claws act like crampons and help him climb trees. Clouded leopards can climb trees almost vertically. The skull is long, flat and narrow compared to that of other cats, the paws are large and wide. The approx. 4.5 cm long upper canines are longer in relation to body size than in any other living cat species. Another specialty in tooth construction is the gap between the canines and the molars , which is caused by the fact that the first front molar is reduced or completely missing. In contrast to the genus Panthera , the hyoid bone in the clouded leopard is ossified. Like almost all cats, the clouded leopard can retract its claws to protect them when they are not in use.
Fur drawing
The fur pattern is amazingly similar to the much smaller marble cat , which is also native to Southeast Asia. The clouded leopard has large, dark, irregularly shaped spots on its flanks on a yellowish to grayish background; each of these spots becomes paler inward. The spots on the legs and head are smaller and monochrome black. There are dark longitudinal stripes on the neck and cheeks and the tail is also darkly curled. The underside is whitish. Black or almost white specimens of the clouded leopard are also known.
The Sunda clouded leopard ( Neofelis diardi ) has darker cloud markings on the fur. It is also darker overall and has a characteristic continuous double eel line.
Distribution area
The clouded leopard is common in southeast Asia, from the southern People's Republic of China to Malacca and from the eastern Himalayas to Vietnam . The northern limit of the distribution area is in the Chinese province of Shaanxi . On the Indian subcontinent , the clouded leopard can only be found in the extreme northeast. The species used to be found in Taiwan and Hainan . In February 2019, however, a clouded leopard was said to have been sighted in eastern Taiwan.
The following countries have wild clouded leopards:
Bhutan , China , India , Indonesia , Cambodia , Laos , Malaysia , Myanmar , Nepal , Thailand , Vietnam .
Duration
The clouded leopard was heavily hunted for some time because of the clouded leopard fur , which raised up to US $ 2,000. Even today he is persecuted by poachers , who often target his bones, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine . Its long canine teeth are sought after by indigenous peoples for medicinal and ceremonial purposes. The main threat today comes from the destruction of its habitat. The destruction of the rainforests to gain agricultural land (Thailand), but above all the ecological destruction of the forests through commercial (export-oriented) logging (in the entire area of distribution) continues in his Southeast Asian homeland. The species is classified as endangered ( vulnerable ) by the IUCN .
There are no exact numbers of these shy cats available, although the very small occurrences are now fragmented and highly fragmented in many places. In China, where the species was once widespread south of the Yangtze , poaching has caused populations to shrink and current evidence is very rare. It is hardly known which areas of China are still home to clouded leopards. The clouded leopard has almost disappeared from Bangladesh and is only found on the north-eastern and south-eastern edges of the country. The last time it was reliably detected in Nepal was in 1863, but some specimens were found here in 1987. Today it is extinct on Hainan. The last sighting took place in the mountain forests of Taiwan in 1983 and since 1996 it has been considered extinct there; In February 2019, however, a clouded leopard was said to have been sighted in eastern Taiwan.
Taxonomy
The clouded leopard was previously the only species of the genus Neofelis that was counted among the big cats . Molecular genetic and morphometric studies have shown, however, that the clouded leopards of the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo are a species of their own. Outwardly, they differ from the clouded leopards of the Southeast Asian mainland primarily through their darker coat of paint. At the genetic level, the two forms are just as different as the species of the genus Panthera , so a distinction must be made between two species, Neofelis nebulosa and Sunda clouded leopard ( Neofelis diardi ). Since N. diardi has already been described as a subspecies, the term cryptic species would be inappropriate here.
Occasionally, Neofelis is considered a subgenus of Panthera . The genus Neofelis differs from the other big cats through its ossified hyoid bone .
Traditionally, a distinction is made between four subspecies, one of which is probably extinct and another is now recognized as an independent species:
- Sunda Clouded Leopard ( Neofelis nebulosa diardi ) - Sumatra and Borneo, extinct on Java. Considered a separate species ( Neofelis diardi ) since 2006 .
- Taiwanese Clouded Leopard ( Neofelis nebulosa brachyurus ) - Taiwan. The Taiwanese clouded leopard was relatively small, it is probably extinct.
- North Indian clouded leopard ( Neofelis nebulosa macrosceloides ) - Nepal to Myanmar.
- Indochina Clouded Leopard ( Neofelis nebulosa nebulosa ) - Southern China to Eastern Myanmar.
habitat
The clouded leopard lives in different forest types and rises in the mountains to about 2000 m. It can be found in tropical and subtropical primary and secondary forests , including bush forests, high grasslands and mangrove swamps .
Way of life
So far, relatively little is known about the lifestyle of this poorly researched, shy cat. Clouded leopards live solitary and are said to be mainly in the branches. They seem to spend the day mostly in a fork of branches or in a tree cave and apparently only go hunting at night. However, it is still controversial whether they usually hunt on the ground and also during the day. Observations in zoos show that the clouded leopard is one of the best climbers among cats. He walks down tree trunks head first, shimmy along horizontal branches, hanging down with his back, or just hangs down from a branch with his hind paws. No other predator of this size is capable of similar acrobatic climbing performances. When climbing, the long tail helps him keep his balance.
Prey animals
The prey animals include deer , pigs , porcupines , monkeys and birds , but also snakes and other small animals. He often lies in wait for them from a branch and jumps at them from above. Due to its long canine teeth and relatively sturdy physique, it was previously believed that it would prefer larger ungulates as prey, but recent observations indicate that its main diet is more likely to be primates such as proboscis monkeys , hog monkeys and gibbons . Occasionally, the predator also kills human pets such as goats and poultry. Before the meal, the clouded leopard rasps off the fur or feathers of its prey with its horny tongue.
Reproduction
Locals in Southeast Asia claim that he gives birth to his young in tree hollows. Confirmed findings on reproductive behavior are only available for animals in captivity.
The young are born there in all months except December, with a maximum birth rate in March. The estrus lasts six days and occurs about every 30 days. The gestation period lasts 87 to 102 days. There are one to five, but usually two to four youngsters in a litter. They are initially blind and weigh around 140 to 170 grams. After about ten to eleven days, they open their eyes. Although they start eating solid food after ten and a half weeks, they are suckled for about five months. The spots are completely black at birth and then lighten more and more in the centers until they match the pattern of the adult animals after half a year. Clouded leopards are believed to be self-employed at around nine months old. Both males and females are fertile at 26 months.
The average life expectancy is around 11 years; in captivity, individual specimens can reach an age of up to 17 years.
Clouded leopards and humans
Clouded leopards have been reported to have attacked humans, but it appears that those animals were particularly irritated in these cases. Clouded leopards are considered playful and tame in captivity, and often they even allow their keepers to stroke them. In the past, breeding successes in clouded leopards were rare, as the males often killed the females. Today you get around this problem by getting a couple used to each other as young as possible.
Names
Some locals call the clouded leopard sebegyar or bandar bagh , which means something like monkey catcher or monkey tiger . The English name clouded leopard ("wolkiger leopard") refers, like the German name, to the smoky spots that are somewhat reminiscent of fog or clouds.
Other names in various Asian languages are Lamchita ( Bengali ), Ghodaphutuki bagh ( Asamiya ), Pungmar ( Lepcha ), Kung ( Bhotia ), Amchita ( Nepali ), Kelral ( Mizo ).
literature
- Bernhard Grzimek: Grzimeks animal life. Volume 12, dtv, 1979, ISBN 3-423-03207-3 , pp. 331-333.
- David Macdonald: The Great Encyclopedia of Mammals. Könemann in the Tandem Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3-8331-1006-6 .
- Jesus Mosterin: Fauna. Volume 7: South Asia (Oriental Region). Grammont Verlag, Lausanne 1977, ISBN 2-8270-0869-6 .
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World . Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
- Mel Sunquist, Fiona Sunquist: Wildcats of the World . University of Chicago Press, 2002, ISBN 0-226-77999-8 , pp. 278-284.
- Valmik Thapar: In the land of the tiger . vgs Verlagsgesellschaft, Cologne 1998, ISBN 3-8025-1370-3 .
Web links
- Species profile clouded leopard; IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group. (in English)
- Neofelis nebulosa in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2012. Posted by: Cat Specialist Group, 2008. Accessed January 26, 2013.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Bernhard Grzimek: Grzimeks animal life. Volume 12, dtv, 1979, ISBN 3-423-03207-3 , pp. 331-333.
- ^ A b Mel Sunquist, Fiona Sunquist: Wildcats of the World . University of Chicago Press, 2002, ISBN 0-226-77999-8 , p. 279 ( excerpt (Google) )
- ↑ a b c Clouded Leopard ( Memento of the original from April 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Website of the Cat Specialist Group of the IUCN (accessed 26 January 2013)
- ↑ New species of big cats determined in Indonesia. In: The world. March 16, 2007.
- ↑ a b c d e J. Sanderson, JA Khan, L. Grassman, DP Mallon: Neofelis nebulosa. 2008. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
- ↑ www.taiwannews.com.tw, Keoni Everington: "Extinct" Formosan clouded leopard spotted in E. Taiwan . Last accessed February 23, 2019.
- ↑ a b c d Mel Sunquist, Fiona Sunquist: Wildcats of the World . University of Chicago Press, 2002, ISBN 0-226-77999-8 , p. 282 ( excerpt (Google) )
- ↑ www.taiwannews.com.tw, Keoni Everington: "Extinct" Formosan clouded leopard spotted in E. Taiwan . Last accessed February 23, 2019.
- ↑ Valerie A. Buckley-Beason, Warren E. Johnson, William G. Nash, Roscoe Stanyon, Joan C. Menninger, Carlos A. Driscoll, JoGayle Howard, Mitch Bush, John E. Page, Melody E. Roelke, Gary Stone, Paolo P. Martelli, Ci Wen, Lin Ling, Ratna K. Duraisingam, Phan V. Lam, Stephen J. O'Brien: Molecular Evidence for Species-Level Distinctions in Clouded Leopards. In: Current Biology. No. 16, December 5, 2006, pp. 2371-2376.
- ^ A. Kitchener et al: Geographical Variation in the Clouded Leopard, Neofelis nebulosa, Reveals Two Species. In: Current Biology. No. 16, December 5, 2006, pp. 2377-2383.
