Rare footage: a camera trap captured a family of Bornean clouded leopards

A camera trap in Indonesian Borneo captured a rare female clouded leopard with two cubs. These are the first shots of this kind. It has never been possible to photograph a mother with her offspring.

A camera installed in the jungle in Tanjungputing National Park in the south of Kalimantan (Borneo) captured a family of Bornean clouded leopards (Neofelis diardi): an adult female and two kittens. The mother and one of her offspring passed by the camera trap without paying attention to it, but the second cub became interested in the device and lingered near it. According to a press release from the conservation organization Orangutan Foundation, the rare video footage was taken on April 9, 2024. Camera traps have previously recorded the presence of clouded leopards in Tanjungputing on several occasions; However, it was only now that a family group of these predators was filmed in the park.

The Bornean clouded leopard lives in the rainforests of Kalimantan and Sumatra. In the past, it was considered a subspecies of the clouded leopard (N. nebulosa), distributed from Nepal and eastern China to the Malay Peninsula, but in 2008 it was recognized as a separate species based on genetic data. This predator is excellent at climbing trees and hunting rodents, monkeys and other small and medium-sized animals. At the same time, in Kalimantan, clouded leopards are the largest predatory mammals and play an important role in the functioning of local ecosystems. Unfortunately, due to poaching and deforestation, the number of these cats is declining. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the Bornean clouded leopard as a Vulnerable (VU) species.