Animals Directory

Archive for the ‘Clouded leopard’ Category

Leopards hunt only at night and spend the day sleeping among the vegetation, in caves or other animals, often on the branch of a tree to climb with agility that despite the size they have.

The leopard is one of 4 cats in the Panthers group, along with the lion, tiger and jaguar, characterized by a modification of the hybrid bone that enables them to roar.

For the leopard, the tree is both a resting place, where hunting and where you store your food. From the top of the tree, the leopard can ambush their prey and also leave food out of reach of scavengers.

Their favorite prey are monkeys and some species of small to medium sized antelopes, zebras and cattle among others. No chance to catch this type of prey, also eat field mice, squirrels and other small animals, or even fruit. Usually fear the presence of human beings.

They are solitary animals except in breeding season. The gestation period lasts about three months and the female can have one to six cubs, but the most common are two or three.

Usually is often confused with the cheetah, with which it shares a very similar, but which differs greatly in both physical characteristics and in their character, the cheetah being distinctly less aggressive than the leopard.

The clouded leopard is a medium sized cat of Southeast Asia. Its length from 60 to 110 centimeters and weighing 11 to 20 kilos females, males up to 65/kg. Of arboreal habits, this species is an excellent climber who moves nimbly around the bush with its long tail that acts as a rocker.

The coat is covered with blotches of brown interior and black border, which helps the clouded leopard to blend into the leaves. Its name comes precisely from these spots, similar to a cloud. In China, known as Leopard mint, and also the spots resemble the leaves of this plant.

Features:

This animal has the peculiarity of being the cat with the longest canines in relation to the body of those who currently exist. Cranial architecture differs in several characteristics from that of other cats, so this animal is classified in a mono specific genus, Neophilias.

The rare clouded leopard hunting on the ground. Use their unique physical adaptations to catch the agile animals from trees, especially the primates like gibbons, macaques and proboscis monkeys. Also hunt rodents and other small mammals, birds, small Asian deer and porcupines. Occasionally up to about populated areas and stealing domestic animals, particularly chickens and other poultry.

Recently a team of U.S. scientists has discovered that the clouded leopard that lives in the islands of Borneo and Sumatra is an entirely new kind of feline. So far, it was believed that this enigmatic inhabitants of the equatorial forest belonged to the same species found in Southeast Asia.

Reproduction:

After a gestation period of 85 to 93 days, females give birth to a litter of 1 to 5 young. These are born blind and helpless, covered with patches of black color. Open their eyes at 10 days after birth and at 5 weeks and begin to actively pursue his mother. Become independent at 10 months after birth, but not sexually mature until two years old. Thereafter, the females may have a new litter every year. Life expectancy in captivity is only 17 years, so presumably live very little free time.

The captive breeding programs have made little progress, since males tend to be aggressive and attack instead females mate with them. This makes their preservation and reintroduction into the wild.

Habitat:

The clouded leopard lives in tropical and subtropical forests of eastern India, southern China, Burma, Indochina, Sumatra and Borneo. The subspecies native of Taiwan is extremely rare and is probably already extinct due to the impact of human activity on the island. It can be found equally in mountainous areas above 2000 meters altitude in depressed areas and wetlands, coastal mangroves and occasionally in grassy plains where you can be in transit.