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INDIA’S ELUSIVE CLOUDED LEOPARDFELINE DREAM DATEARCHNA SINGH ENCOUNTERS AND PHOTOGRAPHS THE LEGENDARY CAT IN THE FORESTS OF ASSAM

SCOOP!

The Clouded leopardNeofelis nebulosa is one of the wild cats found in theNorth East Indian states of

Assam to Arunachal Pradesh,and the smallest among the

big cats family of India.

W e arrived at Manas late in the evening of 28thJanuary 2017. It was dark by the time we

reached. This was my first visit to Manas and I wasexcited to experience a new Park and what I find here. Itis not a well-established Park as far as safari organizationis concerned. The guides and drivers mostly are localswho have little knowledge of the Park, its species oridentifying and tracking pugmarks. That meant mostly wehad to rely on ourselves for identifying or tracking anypredators that we might find. Although knowing that it israre to see tigers here, I was still hopeful of sighting oneand with that mindset I arrived in Manas. The firsthoarding of the National Park that I saw from the car was

impressively lit and had a beautiful tiger picture. But whatcaught my eye was another picture of a Clouded leopardright besides it. Till now, despite having known that theClouded leopard is a resident in this Park, I really hadn’tthought about it that much. I never thought there was aremote chance also to sight one, due to their smallnumbers and very elusive and shy nature. It is almostimpossible to witness one let alone taking a picture ofthese shy cats. The Clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa isone of the wild cats found in the North East Indian statesof Assam to Arunachal Pradesh, the smallest among thebig cats family of India and an arboreal animal found inthe Himalayan foothills, which is classified as Vulnerable

because of habitat loss, deforestation, illegal trading andpoaching for skin, claws and teeth. The exact numbers ofthis secretive cat are not known but they are believed tobe fewer than 10,000 adults left in the wild world.Clouded leopards are the most talented climbers amongthe cats. In captivity, they have been observed to climbdown vertical tree trunks head first, and hang on tobranches with their hind paws and their tail around them.They can climb on horizontal branches with their back tothe ground, and in this position make short jumpsforward. Apar t from information stemming fromobservations of captive clouded leopards, little is knownof their natural history and behavior in the wild. Early

TEXT AND PHOTOS BY ARCHNA SINGH

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The Cloudedleopard occurs from the Himalayanfoothills throughmainland SoutheastAsia into China.Since 2008, it islisted as Vulnerableon the IUCN RedList. Its totalpopulation issuspected to befewer than 10,000mature individuals,with a decreasingpopulation trend,and no singlepopulationnumbering morethan 1,000 adults.

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Pug marks areoften the onlyevidence of thepresence ofClouded leopards -this is a verysecretive species.

accounts depict them as rare, secret ive,arboreal, and nocturnal denizens of denseprimary forest. More recent observations suggestthey may not be as arboreal and nocturnal aspreviously thought. They may use trees asdaytime rest sites, but also spend a significantproportion of time on the ground. Some daytimemovement has been observed, suggesting theyare not strictly nocturnal but crepuscular. Theirpartly nocturnal and far-ranging behavior, theirlow densities, and because they inhabit denselyvegetated habitats and remote areas makes thecounting and monitoring of Clouded leopardsextremely difficult. Consequently, little is knownabout their behavior and status. Availableinformation on their ecology is anecdotal, basedon local interviews and a few sighting reports.So until now I was not even thinking about theClouded leopard, but seeing that image mademy mind flip from the tiger in a complete 360-degree turn. No matter how hard I tried, all Icould think of was the Clouded leopard. By thetime I arrived at the hotel and settled down, I wasall set to research about this cat and by morningI had studied and read all about it on theinternet. Excited, we left for the first safari on themorning of 29th. Not knowing what to expect,we ventured into the beautiful forest of Manaswith an open mind. What followed was a seriesof tiger pugmarks at not one place but twodifferent areas. We also saw pugmarks of theClouded leopard in another area, that seemedquite fresh, either from the previous night or earlythat morning. This got us super excited. The dayended however with no sighting, not a singleanimal let alone a predator. Till now I hadn’trealized how dense the foliage of the Park wasand how skittish its animals. With its long historyof Bodoland insurgency and the indiscriminatepoaching of animals that followed, its notsurprising. Assam, one of the seven states of the

North Eastern region of India, has longremained one of the most volati le andsensitive regions in the country because of theproblems of Bodo insurgency, ethnic conflict,pressure of migration, underdevelopment etc.Since 2003 things are getting back tonormal, but this long drawn state of affairsdid result in the immense destruction ofwildlife and is also responsible for theirextremely skittish behavior. It will be severalyears before Manas’s animals grow out oftheir fear of humans and become less evasiveand used to tourists. The next day we foundsuper fresh pugmarks of two tigers – onesmaller than the other and apparently seemedlike that of a mother and her young one. Wealso found fresh pugmarks of a male tigerfrom another area. It seemed like the tigerwas very near and would show himself anytime. Unfortunately, no such luck, and weexited the jungle with no sighting the wholeday. Not only did we not see any predatorwe had barely seen any other animal in theentire Park. It was quite frustrating to not evenhave an opportunity to see any animalbesides the squirrels and langurs for two daysnow. On our third day - 31st January - wesaw fresh pugmarks of the tiger again and itwas quite possible that i t had justdisappeared into the jungle upon hearing thejeep. We waited patiently and took rounds ofthe area to find the tiger, but no luck. Wewent back for lunch and when we came backfor the afternoon safari to the same area, wesaw fresh pugmarks of the Clouded leopardover the tyres of our jeep, confirming the factthat the cat had crossed that area in theafternoon just before we came. Thisstrengthened my belief that there just might bea possibility of us witnessing this elusive catin the wild, if it does venture out during the

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7Clouded leopards weigh between 11.5 and 23 kg (25 and 51 lb).

Females vary in head-to-body length from 68.6 to 94 cm (27.0 to 37.0in), with a tail 61 to 82 cm (24 to 32 in) long. Males are larger at 81to 108 cm (32 to 43 in) with a tail 74 to 91 cm (29 to 36 in) long.Their shoulder height varies from 50 to 55 cm (20 to 22 in).

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The fur of Cloudedleopards is of adark grey orochreous ground-color, often largelyobliterated by blackand dark dusky-greyblotched pattern.There are blackspots on the head,and the ears areblack. Partly fusedor broken-up stripesrun from the cornerof the eyes over thecheek, from thecorner of the mouthto the neck, andalong the nape tothe shoulders.

Clouded leopardshave exceptionallylong, piercing canineteeth, the upper being

about three times as longas the basal width of thesocket. The upper pair ofcanines may measure 4cm (1.6 in) or longer.

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day. It was definitely very exciting.After two days of tracking i tspugmarks and fol lowing them,expectations were still very bleak asit is rarely to be seen, let aloneduring the day, but we wereextremely for tunate to haveidentified the sounds that it madethis day. Having confirmed that thesound was indeed that of a Cloudedleopard, we stopped right there,near a dry river bed, where the pugmarks were also being seen for thelast two days, we waited patiently inand around that area, trying to hearany sounds that might come fromthis cat that clearly was in thevicinity. It wasn’t long before whenwe heard some movement in thebushes and to our utter disbeliefwhat came out was this tiny littlething known as the Cloudedleopard. It seemed slightly biggerthan a domestic cat, slightly longishwith quite a long and bushy tailthough. It still seems like a dreamthat I actual ly saw one. Notbelieving my eyes, I kept confirmingthe fact that i t was indeed theClouded leopard. I t was a fewmoments before I could reach out formy camera to take some images.Here are some of my favorite shots.The sighting was short and the lightwasn’t all that great in the middle ofthe afternoon, but hey, it’s a Cloudedleopard, right? Just being able to seehim, let alone photograph it, was ablessing in itself. .

www.archnasingh.com

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Sadly many of the remaining forestareas are too small to ensure thelong-term persistence of Cloudedleopard populations. They arethreatened by habitat loss followinglarge–scale deforestation andcommercial poaching for the wildlifetrade. Skins, claws, and teeth areoffered for decoration and clothing,bones and meat as substitute for tigerin traditional Asian medicines andtonics, and live animals for the pettrade. Few poaching incidents havebeen documented, but all rangestates are believed to have somedegree of commercial poaching. In recent years, substantial domesticmarkets existed in Indonesia,Myanmar, and Vietnam.