Clouded Leopard:
Ecologist observed that the Clouded leopard on its hide does not follow any specific pattern of operating in a certain space, unlike other carnivores.
- Clouded leopard is a wild cat inhabiting dense forests of the Himalayas through mainland Southeast Asia into South China.
- The clouded leopard is categorised into two species: the mainland clouded leopard distributed from central Nepal to peninsular Malaysia, and the Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi) native to Borneo and Sumatra.
- The mainland clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) is often likened to the Ice Age sabretooth because it has the largest canines in proportion to its skull size among all cat species.
- It also has rotating rear ankles that enable it to climb down head first from trees, unlike the other felines.
- They seemed to go wherever they pleased without worrying about other predators, primarily because of their ability to climb trees, even hang upside down from large branches.
- It most often inhabits primary evergreen tropical forests and also lives in secondary forests, logged forests, dry tropical forests, grassland, mangrove swamp, scrubland, and coastal hardwood forest.
- In India, it is found in Sikkim, northern West Bengal, Meghalaya subtropical forests, Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur, Assam, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.
- It is the State animal of Meghalaya.
- Conservation status
- IUCN: Vulnerable
