“The ‘newest’ big cat species known to science, the Sunda clouded leopard, has two sub-species, scientists have discovered. Researchers only realised it was a new species – distinct from clouded leopards living elsewhere in Asia – in 2007. Now a genetic analysis has confirmed that the cat comes in two forms, one living in Sumatra, the other on Borneo. Clouded leopards are the most elusive of the big cats, which include lions, tigers, jaguars, snow leopards and normal spotted leopards. Living across south-east Asia, into China and India, the leopards have larger cloud-like spots than ordinary leopards. Until 2006, all clouded leopards were thought to belong to a single species. However, genetic studies revealed that there are actually two quite distinct clouded leopard species. As well as the better known clouded leopard living on the Asian mainland ( Neofelis nebulosa ), scientists determined that a separate clouded leopard species lives on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. This leopard is now known as the Sunda clouded leopard ( Neofelis diardi ), though it was previously and erroneously called the Bornean clouded leopard. The two species are thought to have split over one million years ago. Since 2008, it has been listed as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.” w/ photos
