No abstract

During - we conducted a nationwide camera-trapping survey and assessed the availability of prey and habitat for the clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa in Taiwan. We surveyed , camera-trap sites over , camera-trap days, from the seashore to an altitude of , m and covering various types of vegetation. No clouded leopards were photographed during , camera-trap days, including at  sites in other studies, confirming the presumed extinction of clouded leopards in Taiwan. Assessment of the prey base revealed altitudinal distribution patterns of prey species and prey biomass. Areas at lower altitudes and with less human encroachment and hunting supported a higher prey biomass and more of the typical prey species of clouded leopards. Habitat analysis revealed , km  of suitable habitat but this was reduced to , km  when adjacent areas of human encroachment were subtracted. In the absence of hunting and large mammalian carnivores the major prey of clouded leopards in Taiwan, such as Formosan macaques Macaca cyclopis, Reeves's muntjacs Muntiacus reevesi, Formosan serow Capricornis swinhoei and sambar Rusa unicolor, could become over-abundant. Thus, it is important to address the cascading effect of the disappearance of top-down predator control. Our assessment indicated that, with proper regulation of hunting, habitat restoration and corridor improvement, it may be possible to reintroduce the clouded leopard.

No abstract

The global population of clouded leopards (Neofelis nebulosa) is considered vulnerable worldwide [1], and were considered to be less abundant globally the 2016 assessment by the IUCN than the previous assessment in 2007 [1]. Clouded leopards currently range from the southeastern Himalayas across southeastern Asia, extending through southern China and into peninsular Malaysia [2-6] (Figure 1). They have been extirpated from Taiwan [7], and possibly from Bangladesh [1]. Clouded leopards are protected in most countries across their range [1], but a large reason for population declines is unregulated hunting for pelts [1,8], as well as habitat fragmentation and regional declines in habitat quality [1].Clouded leopards may be expanding their range recently in the southeastern Himalayas. Clouded leopards were historically found in Nepal [9], but were thought to have become extinct in the last century. They were rediscovered in the 1980's [5], and have now been documented as far west as Annapurna in central Nepal [10]. Similarly, clouded leopards were historically found in India and may have been common [11]. They are now much less common, and were documented for the first time in decades in the northeastern state of Mizoram [12], and were also detected during multiple surveys during recent decades in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh [13,14], and Assam [15]. Future studies to document and confirm the global and local ranges of clouded leopards are important in order to set realistic and appropriate conservation goals. It is possible that the range is both expanding and contracting in different areas, making local conservation needs potentially different than those for the species as a whole. The expansions of the ranges of clouded leopards in the past few decades in Nepal and India [5,10,[12][13][14], are encouraging. Although reintroductions are often difficult, because clouded leopards are naturally recolonizing areas it is possible that reintroduction efforts could also be successful. The causes of the original extirpation in the area need to be addressed and the long-term viability of the population considered before any reintroductions efforts begin.