Researchers have captured on camera the first footage of the Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi) in Malaysia.The video was captured in the Dermakot Forest Reserve in the Malaysian part of Borneo. The Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, Germany was instrumental in this venture.
It was in 2006 that genetic evidence and analysis of its markings proved it was quite different from the clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) and treated as a new species.
The Sunda clouded leopard is classified as Vulnerable by IUCN and is threatened by habitat loss. Forest cover in Borneo has plummeted to 50 percent in less than 60 years. 80 percent of Borneo's cats face extinction. Widespread deforestation for timber and oil palm plantations are the main reasons for the disappearance of the forests.
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