Research

Clouded Leopard Programme

Clouded Leopard Programme
Long term studies (Borneo, Myanmar)
Clouded Leopard Camera Trap Database
Policy Toolkits
The Team
Clouded Leopard Programme Video Series
Publications

WildCRU’s clouded leopard programme tackles the conservation of South East Asian clouded leopard across their range. Spanning both the mainland Neofelis nebulosa, and the Sunda Neofelis diardi and the other species of felid coexisting with them, for example, tigers and leopard, this work aims to positively impact their populations and the associated biodiversity under their respective umbrellas. Our research in this programme entails well-established techniques in conservation science along with WildCRU innovations in practical and policy planning tools.

WildCRU’s Clouded Leopard Programme is one of David Macdonald’s largest initiatives, starting in 2010 and building on Andrew Hearn’s study of the Sunda clouded leopard and sympatric felid guild in Borneo since in 2006, the Programme now encompasses long term ecological research, range-wide camera trapping, range-wide analyses, and the development and dissemination of policy planning tools.

Clouded leopards are powerful ambassadors for forest conservation which matters to biodiversity, forestry, carbon and livelihoods, but as the smallest of the big cats they are by far the least known. They are members of the most speciose guild of wild (and generally threatened) felid species in the world, and also occur alongside many other endangered carnivores, so their communities are an important for their ecosystem. They not only live in a threatened habitat, tropical forest, but they live in that habitat in the parts of the world from which it is disappearing at the fastest rate, so they are flagships for their biome. Added to this, they are victims of illegal wildlife trade and their protection has the potential to be linked to carbon conservation, with impacts to environmental conservation and management beyond species conservation.

To view the Clouded Leopard Programme video series, click here.

Long term studies (Borneo, Myanmar) >>

News:

July 2020 – WildCRU Toolkits bearing exciting fruit

June 2020 – Unveiling population densities of the elusive Sunda clouded leopard

April 2020 – Toolkit for supporting conservation decision makers in Sabah, Borneo

April 2020 – Toolkit for supporting conservation decision makers in Myanmar

March 2020 – WildCRU’s camera trap dataset, probably the largest of it’s kind, identifies conservation priorities for clouded leopards

March 2020 – WildCRU collaboration reveals the loss of tigers and leopards in Laos

December 2019 – Record breaking Himalayan altitude record for the clouded leopard

May 2019 – New WildCRU study accompanies the creation of a development Tool Kit for planners in important areas of high biodiversity

September 2018 – New light flashed on the little known endangered cats of Sumatra’s dark forests: a camera trapping study of clouded leopards and golden cats

April 2018 – Study sheds light on the movements of Sunda clouded leopards in Sabah

April 2018 – Celebrating a Panther amongst the Clouds, David Macdonald reports on the success of Ugyen Penjor

November 2017 – Ex-Panthers find marbles amongst the clouds

October 2017 – Clouded leopard population down to ‘around 750’ in key region of Borneo

September 2017 – Saving Ulu Muda

September 2017 – Amongst the clouds

May 2017 – Since the 1970s Borneo has lost a staggering 30% of its forests. What next?

January 2017 – Clouded leopards are as mysterious as they are beautiful, living secret lives in the forests of SE Asia. David Macdonald is directing research on their biology and conservation from Nepal in the west to Kalimantan in the east, and reports here on a trail-blazing new publication to emerge from this programme

October 2015 – Clouded in Mystery: David Macdonald explains how trade is a potential threat for Clouded leopard survival