Neofelis diardi

The Sunda Clouded Leopard has a head-body length of 61-106 cm and a tail length of 55-91 cm; it weighs 16-23 kg. The Sunda Clouded Leopard differs from the Clouded Leopard in that it has a darker coat, with gray or grayish-yellow fur and smaller cloud-like markings. The oval portions of these markings are edged with black, and the inner layer of fur is darker than the background color. There are large black oval markings on the limbs and abdomen, and the back of the neck is clearly marked with two black stripes. The thick, soft tail is very long, usually equal to the length of the body, and is ringed with black.
In order to adapt to forest life, the Sunda Clouded Leopard has strong legs and wide claws, making it good at climbing trees and crawling through dense forests. The most striking feature of the Sunda Clouded Leopard is that it has the largest canine teeth relative to its body size of any cat, which are larger and more knife-like than those of the Clouded Leopard.
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Distributed in Brunei, Indonesia (Kalimantan, Sumatra), Malaysia (Sabah, Sarawak).
The Sunda Clouded Leopard is a forest-dwelling species that inhabits tropical mountain and hilly evergreen forests. It is most commonly found in evergreen tropical primary forests, but can also be seen in other habitats such as secondary forests, mangrove swamps, grasslands, scrubland and coastal broadleaf forests. It is most abundant in the rainforests of the mountainous and hilly areas of Sumatra, and also lives in the lowland tropical rainforests of Borneo, logging forests and areas around oil palm plantations.

Sunda Clouded Leopard (scientific name: Neofelis diardi) English name Sunda Clouded Leopard, Enkuli Clouded Leopard, Sunda Clouded Leopard, Sunda Islands Clouded Leopard, Sundaland Clouded Leopard, is a cat species distributed in Borneo and Sumatra, with 2 subspecies.

The Sunda clouded leopard was once considered a subspecies of the clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa). It was not until 2006 that genetic research found that the genetic differences between the two were quite large. Analysis showed that the Sunda clouded leopard and the clouded leopard on the Asian continent had a history of reproductive isolation for millions of years, and therefore promoted it to an independent species. On March 15, 2007, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) announced the discovery of a new cat species, the Sunda clouded leopard, on the island of Kalimantan.

The Sunda clouded leopard is a solitary animal that only gathers during the breeding season. It is a good climber and can use its thick and long tail to maintain its body balance. It usually sleeps in trees during the day, and is active at dawn and dusk and at night, and is extremely active at night. It is very good at climbing trees and has been observed climbing down tree trunks with its head down like an acrobatic, walking upside down on horizontal branches, and standing on branches using only its hind feet. It can hunt in trees, often lying on branches waiting for prey, and when small animals approach, it can jump down from the tree to prey.

The Sunda clouded leopard has keen eyesight and a good sense of smell and hearing. It marks its territory by scratching trees, spraying urine, and scraping. Its vocalizations are typical of the cat family, including roars, meows, and hisses, but no purring. There are also long-distance whistles, which are intended as a form of communication between animals in different areas, perhaps to attract the opposite sex or to warn other cats to stay away from their territory. It has sensitive whiskers that detect tactile information, especially at night.

The Sunda clouded leopard is a carnivore. It hunts a variety of terrestrial and arboreal prey, including proboscis monkeys, gray leaf monkeys, young deer, barking muntjacs, mouse deer, Kalimantan bearded pigs, civets, fish, and porcupines. It spends more time sleeping in trees than hunting. It uses trees as shelter from terrestrial leeches. They stalk their prey both in trees and on the ground, often stalking silently and then pouncing on it with great speed. They bite the back of the neck to break the spine, then sink their incisors and large canines into the flesh, shaking their heads vigorously to tear the flesh from the remains of their prey.

The Sunda clouded leopard is a solitary animal with similar reproductive behavior to the mainland clouded leopard. Mating can occur in any month of the year, but peak fertility occurs between December and March. The gestation period is 85 to 95 days, with 1-5 cubs per litter, with an average of 2 cubs. Newborns weigh 140-170 grams. Like many other cats, leopard cubs are born with their eyes closed, completely defenseless. Cubs are born with completely dark spots, rather than just dark outer rings. Cubs open their eyes around 12 days old, become active within five weeks, nurse for about two months, and start living on their own around 10 months old. They reach sexual maturity around 2 years old, and females can have one baby per year. Clouded leopards can live up to 17 years in captivity and about 11 years in the wild.

In 2015, a maximum entropy-based habitat suitability analysis for Borneo provided a total AOO of 451,900 km2 (Borneo: 378,900 km2, Sumatra: 73,000 km2). Based on the fact that the current AOO estimate may be high due to unmeasured hunting pressure, potential uneven distribution, and further forest loss after 2010, taking precautionary measures and estimating the average density of the Sunda clouded leopard, its AOO may be as low as 1/100 square kilometers. Extrapolating this estimate to a wider AOO suggests that the number of mature individuals throughout the range may be about 4,500, of which about 3,800 persist in Borneo and only 730 remain in Sumatra.

The Sunda clouded leopard is a forest animal. The destruction of forests has directly affected its population. Deforestation has fragmented its population and increased its susceptibility to infectious diseases and the probability of encountering natural catastrophic events; hunting is extremely common in forest areas, and the food that clouded leopards rely on for survival has correspondingly decreased, which also affects the growth of clouded leopard populations; the expansion of agricultural land has reduced the habitat of clouded leopards, further leading to an increase in the frequency of clouded leopard attacks on poultry and livestock on agricultural land. Poachers hunt for their bones and valuable fur, illegal international trade and smuggling, black market transactions, pet demand, and the use of clouded leopard skins in religious ceremonies. Men in some Asian countries consider owning a clouded leopard skin a symbol of status; medical applications, and consumption in high-end restaurants have all contributed to the decline in clouded leopard populations.

The Sunda clouded leopard is protected by the state in Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sabah, Sarawak, and Brunei, and is also protected in most protected areas along the Sumatra spine and in most protected areas in Borneo. However, given the severity of habitat loss across the species' range and ongoing illegal hunting, more conservation measures are urgently needed.

Listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2015 ver3.1 - Vulnerable (VU).

Listed in Appendix I, II and III of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) 2019 edition Appendix II.

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