Clouded leopard reappears in Borneo

Updated August 20, 2008 09:04:05

A new population of clouded leopard, a slightly different species to this one pictured at a Thai zoo, has been found in a threatened Borneo forest. [Reuters]

British and Indonesian researchers say they have discovered a new population of clouded leopard in a national park on the Indonesian part of Borneo.

The Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, a part of Oxford University's Zoology Department, says the leopards were found in Sebangau National Park in Central Kalimantan Province.

According to WildCRU, the first photograph of an adult male was taken by remote cameras on July 3 in a peat-swamp forest.

The species has never been caught in the national park before.

''We are very excited by this evidence that they occur at Sebangau,'' WildCRU director David Macdonald said.

WildCRU has been in Sebangau for a six-month pilot study to identify and protect felid species living in the park, including leopard cats, marbled cats and flat-headed cats.

Sebangau is one of the largest deep peat-swamp forests in the world and is very susceptible to forest fires.

Although logging has been decreasing in the 568,700-hectare park due to efforts of several environmental organisations, much of the rest of the park remains
prone to illegal logging.

The park has also been identified as home to the world's largest remaining population of Bornean orangutans.