Posts Tagged ‘Clouded Leopard’

Nov
29

Update from Borneo Carnivore Project

Posted by in Borneo,Carnivores,community-based conservation,Conservation,Endangered Species,Field Research

Houston Zoo Carnivore Supervisor Kevin Hodge is checking in from Borneo:

We just got back from another camping trip in the Crocker Mountain Range here in Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia and Houston Zoo summer intern Lyndsey went with us this time. It was just a two day and one night trip. We collected photos from 4 different sites and each site has at least two cameras with a few having four. When we go to the camera site we change batteries, clean the cameras, put new silica gel to absorb the moisture and download the pictures. The last camera site we were going to heck took 6 hours for us to get to in some very steep and slippery terrain only to find that someone had stolen the cameras. All of the data was lost along with $1000 worth of Reconyx cameras.

On the second day the entire day was uphill including a few nearly vertical climb on very wet soil. We climbed from 600 meters above sea level to 1400 at our highest point. The gps is acting up a bit so sometimes we are not getting accurate readings where we are. When we got home today we looked at the photos and there was a clouded leopard on one of them! This makes 4 sites and a total of 5 clouded leopard photos which is pretty impressive considering there has not been much luck with getting photos in this region for these species.

After looking closely at the pictures we have determined it is the same male clouded leopard we have seen at all sites so there is at least 1 in the area. The carnivores seem to prefer traveling the ridge lines of the mountains which is a lot easier to travel than up and down the sides of the mountains but the hunters also like to use these same ridge lines.

So far we have photos of hose’s civet, clouded leopard, marbled cat, Malay civet, pangolin, common palm civet, banded palm civet, masked palm civet, linsang, binturong, Malay weasel, yellow throated Martin, short tailed mongoose, Malay badger,sun bear, leopard cat, bearded pig, red and yellow muntjac, sambar deer, mouse deer, great argus pheasant, pitta, tree shrew, moon rat, squirrels, and hornbill. We have also heard orangutans and Bornean gibbons, grey leafed monkey and a possible sun bear. It has been a great trip but exhausting.

Leopard Cat

We are going to Sepilok tomorrow to visit the Borneo Sun Bear Conservation Centre and then I will be home in about a week!

In case you were curious about what a Borneo Sun Bear looked like. Photo from Danau Girang Field Centre 2010

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Nov
21

Houston Zoo’s Carnivore Supervisor, Kevin Hodge in Borneo

Posted by in Borneo,Carnivores,Conservation,Endangered Species,Featured,Field Research,orangutan,Uncategorized

Houston Zoo Carnivore Supervisor, Kevin Hodge is part of an effort to assist the Borneo Clouded Leopard Project (BCLP) in Sabah, Malaysia. Very limited data exists regarding Bornean felids in higher altitude areas, they will be deploying camera traps in the hills and lower Montane forests of Sabah’s Crocker Range National Park. BCLP has developed a research approach primarily focused around multiple 6-month camera trap surveys designed to estimate clouded leopard densities and felid community structure in areas of forest exposed to different management strategies.  

Camera trap photo of Clouded Leopard in Kinabatangan floodplain. This is what the project is hoping to find in the Crocker Mountain Range

Kevin is in Borneo now, enjoy his description of his first few days with the project.

So, I discovered today I am clearly out of shape.  Just for reference, Crocker is nearly 6,000 feet above sea level – Houston is 50 feet above sea level. Therefore my body has not figured out the 5,950 foot difference just yet.

Our group split in to two groups; one went on a three day hike and ours did just one long day. We set up two camera traps and cleared some forest trails to funnel animals towards it. We only went a total of about 5k if you were to measure in a straight line but with going up and down mountains repeatedly my legs and lungs will argue that it was much more.  I pulled 36 leeches off of me this evening and my pant legs were pink from the blood.  Hopefully I will acclimate to this altitude soon so I don’t slow the group down too much.  We saw a rhinoceros hornbill and we heard orangutans, argus pheasant, and sambar deer.  They have only seen 4 mammals total up in this region on this project so far so things are much more difficult to find than in the Kinabatagan River floodplain where animals are drawn to the open spaces near the river. Does not mean they are not here, just much harder to see and the wildlife are not as accustomed to seeing people wandering around their forests.  We also came across a hunters poaching camp and we went to talk with them but they we’re not there.  We are having trouble with the hunters stealing some of the camera traps which is unfortunately common on some projects, even a past effort I was part of in Texas in the Big Thicket. Otherwise all is great, just waiting on my body to catch up. More to come from Crocker National Park in Sabah, Malaysia…

To learn more about the Houston Zoo’s efforts in Borneo – link here

For more on the Bornean Clouded Leopard Programme – link here

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May
17

Clouded Leopards

Posted by in Animal Origins & Fun Facts,Endangered Species

Few animals rival the beauty of the clouded leopard, one of nature’s most mysterious felines and a species which can be seen at the Houston Zoo.

Named for its cloud-shaped spots or “ellipses,” this nocturnal creature makes its home in the tropical rainforests and dry woodlands of Southeast Asia, and is considered one of the most acrobatic climbers in the cat family.  “Cloudeds” can leap from tree to tree, maneuver quite well both above and beneath branches, hang upside-down by their hind feet, and even race head-first down vertical trunks. The cat’s long tail, which can reach three feet and is equal in length to the body, helps the animal maintain its balance high up in the forest canopy. Another unique feature of this species is its long canines, which are longer in proportion to body size than those of any other living cats.  In a sense, the clouded leopard is a medium sized saber-toothed tiger designed for the treetops.

Bornean Clouded Leopard, photo Wilting&Mohamed, ConCaSa

Although widely distributed and found in Indonesia, Burma, Nepal, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Sumatra, southern China and Borneo, the clouded leopard is still categorized as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.  Its numbers are believed to be declining throughout its range and the population on Taiwan was recently extirpated – that is, wiped out.  Being nocturnal and largely solitary in nature, this species has revealed little of its social behavior to even the most determined field researchers.  However, recent genetic studies suggest that what was once thought to be a single species is actually two; populations inhabiting the islands of Borneo and Sumatra are significantly distinct from those of the mainland.  This doesn’t come as a total surprise to evolutionary biologists, but it does give higher priority to conservation actions that target these isolated populations. The Houston Zoo currently supports several wildlife projects in the state of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo: orangutan field research, human-elephant conflict mitigation, and camera-trapping surveys for native cat species including the clouded leopard.    

For more information about clouded leopards, go to www.cloudedleopard.org.

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Feb
18

Clouded Leopards and wild cats of Borneo

Posted by in Animal Origins & Fun Facts,Endangered Species,What You Can Do

The Houston Zoo is involved in a number of efforts in Borneo focusing on elephants and orangutans and help out where we can in other areas. One of those areas is the Conservation of Carnivores in Sabah managed by our friends from Leibniz Institute for Wildlife Research and The Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ITBC). The two primary investigators have recently shared some amazing footage with us from the project which can be seen here on the BBC Earth News Website.

The website notes: The film, the first footage of the cat in the wild to be made public, has been released by scientists working in the Dermakot Forest Reserve in Malaysia. The Sundaland clouded leopard, only discovered to be a distinct species three years ago, is one of the least known and elusive of all cat species. Two more rare cats, the flat-headed cat and bay cat, were also photographed.

There are 5  species of cats in Borneo and all five can be found at the research site which is pretty unique in itself. That the project has turned up a species known as the (Borneo) bay cat is newsworthy as the cat is little known and rarely seen, and even more rarely photographed. Other cats on the island include the Marbled cat and the Leopard cat.

We need to take this opportunity to thank our supporters in “Wildcat” conservation – the students of Velasquez Elementary in Richmond, Texas who for the second time in three years, have held a fundraiser to support wildcat (which is the school mascot) conservation in Borneo.

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