Newly released camera trap footage from Borneo’s rainforests has captured the oldest wild Sunda clouded leopard ever recorded – an 8.5-year-old female – providing conservationists with valuable new insights into the lives of these elusive animals.
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Sunda clouded leopards (Neofelis diardi), also known as the ‘ghosts of the forest’, are top predators endemic to the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. They are rarely seen and have the largest canine teeth of any wild cat relative to body size – even drawing comparisons with prehistoric sabre-toothed cats.
The species is at the forefront of conservation efforts in the area – classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, it’s facing population declines driven by habitat loss, degradation, and incidental and trade-driven hunting.
To ensure the long-term survival of these cats, scientists need to understand their key traits, including life expectancy – but it’s not easy, both due to their elusive nature, as well as challenges in sustaining long-term monitoring, stemming from unstable funding, changes in administration, and shifting priorities.
Tracking the ghost
Through combining separate surveys into a discontinuous long-term dataset covering 15.5 years of observation in a logged forest complex of Malaysian Borneo, the researchers finally have a clearer picture of the clouded leopards’ habits and lifespan.
The research was published in the journal Biotropica, conducted in partnership between Panthera (global wild cat conservation organisation), Sabah Forestry Department, the Sabah Wildlife Department, and the indigenous peoples of Sabah, Borneo.
The study’s dataset was made possible by the indigenous communities of the area, who serve as wildlife rangers and community engagement officers for Panthera. They patrol the dense terrain, run camera trap networks and protect the animals from poachers.
The data was collected between 2007 and 2023 across three forest reserves: Deramakot, Tangkulap-Pinangah, and Northern Kuamut. Over 15.5 years, 52 adult Sunda clouded leopards were recorded – 30 males and 22 females. The researchers were able to catalogue the animals by paying attention to their unique lateral coat patterns and distinguished between sexes through using primary and secondary sexual traits.
The data confirmed that these leopards are far more mobile than previously thought, with some individuals travelling up to 36km between reserves.
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The elusive female
Interestingly, females of this species are far more evasive than the males – they were detected 68 per cent less often over the course of the study.
The researchers believe it’s not because there are fewer of them – but because they spend more time in the trees, out of reach of cameras. Their slighter build and fluffier tails, useful for balance, back up the idea that females are built for a life spent in the forest canopies. Males, by contrast, spend most of their time on the ground, patrolling and marking territory.
For this reason, previous lifespan estimates for Sunda clouded leopards have been limited to males – this study is the breakthrough. The previous longevity record for the species was just under six years, set by a male leopard tracked over nearly a decade of observation in a 2020 study.
This new study saw the researchers follow the female clouded leopard for more than six years, before finally estimating her age at 8.5 years old by the time she was last photographed.
With fewer than 10,000 mature Sunda clouded leopards estimated to remain across Sumatra and Borneo, the researchers hope their findings will support more targeted conservation planning.
Read the full findings here.
More photographs of Sunda clouded leopards:
Other wildlife photographed during the study
Bornean orangutan
Great Argus
Bearded pig
Marbled cat
Endangered flat-headed cat (Prionailurus planiceps)
Top image: The oldest known wild clouded leopard - a female - captured on camera trap in Malaysian Borneo. This individual is estimated to have been 8.5 years old. Credit: Panthera, Sabah Forestry Department, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research
