Unlike the inverse relationship between response timing (latency) and stimulus frequency commonly observed in other fields, the relationship in species belonging to the Pantherinae subfamily is more complex. Although an inverse relationship exists between neural timing and low frequency stimuli (between 0.5 and 1–2 kHz), the relationship for frequencies greater than 2 kHz breaks from this pattern and is best described by a positive-going parabola-like curve with a maximum value in the vicinity of 8 to 16 kHz in representatives of the Pantherinae lineage studied thus far. In clouded leopards the local maximum is near 8 kHz. This general latency-frequency pattern has been confirmed in tigers and appears to hold for jaguars and lions. Clouded leopards (Neofilis nebulosa) branched directly from the Panthera lineage approximately 6 million years ago. This phylogenetic proximity to Panthera makes the genus Neofilis particularly interesting in relation to the response timing question. The outcome of previous efforts to determine the cochlear site of origin of short latency responses to lower frequency stimuli in the tiger were consistent with the existence of a basal turn timing adaptation. The implications of such adaptation in clouded leopards will be considered.