The first description of population density and habitat use of the mainland clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa within a logged‐primary forest in South East Asia

Abstract

AbstractThe mainland clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) is classified as vulnerable under the IUCN Red List, meaning that it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild. However, hardly any ecological research has been published on this species apart from several radiotelemetry studies in Thailand and Nepal, and one camera‐trapping study in India. Here we present findings on the clouded leopard from a camera‐trapping study conducted in Temengor forest reserve (a logged‐over forest) and Royal Belum State Park (a primary forest) within Peninsular Malaysia. Using the spatially‐explicit capture‐recapture method, the density from Temengor forest reserve and Royal Belum State Park was estimated at 3.46 ± SE 1.00 and 1.83 ± SE 0.61, respectively. Clouded leopard habitat use was found to be highly influenced by the availability of small and medium prey species and therefore intrinsically highlights the potential conservation importance of species such as pig‐tailed macaques, porcupine, mouse deer and small carnivores. These findings provide the first estimates of density and habitat use of this species in a logged‐primary forest from both Peninsular Malaysia and South East Asia. Our study provides important baseline information on clouded leopards and contributes to filling up the knowledge gap that exists in understanding the population ecology of this species, not only within Peninsular Malaysia, but also on a regional level.