12 hours ago
Trail cameras capture first-of-its-kind image of predator making meal of small creature in national park: 'Extremely significant'
A trail camera captured a unique image of a rare big cat, which has conservationists purring with excitement about its implications.
As Mongabay reported, a camera set up in Dehing Patkai National Park in Assam, northeast India, captured footage of a clouded leopard carrying a Bengal slow loris by the nape of its neck. Given their nocturnal habits and elusive nature, it's rare to ever see either creature in the wild.
Ranjith Ram, one of the park's officials, told the outlet that "only one or two people in my patrol party have reported seeing clouded leopards. So, the fact that a single camera trap image captures both these animals is extremely significant."
With just around 10,000 cats remaining in the wild in Southeast Asia, the clouded leopard is one of the smaller big cats, tipping the scales at a little over 50 pounds. Unlike other big cats, they cannot roar, and unlike small cats, they don't purr.
This quiet feline still leaves a big impression as it can punch well above its modest weight thanks to powerful legs and exceptionally large canine teeth. The clouded leopard's lengthy gnashers are equivalent to a tiger's, a feline ten times larger, per Global Conservation.
Like other big cats in the area, clouded leopards are threatened by habitat destruction and poaching. As the World Wildlife Fund notes, their pelts are widely sold by unscrupulous traders attempting to pass them off as tiger pelts, and they are believed to have already become extinct in China and Taiwan.
The images underline the vital importance of trail cameras in forming effective conservation strategies. They aid researchers in keeping tabs on some of the rarest species on Earth without intruding on their habitats. The cameras are also helpful in generating public interest in climate issues, as it's a lot more productive to center conversations around positive developments.
As a paper on the images noted, the pictures captured by the trail camera have helped fill in the scholarly gaps in the leopard's dietary habits: "This photographic record fills in the information gap on the prey preference of the clouded leopard in its Indian distribution range."
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