Newly-released camera trapfootage from a recentstudy captures the oldest wild Sunda clouded leopard ever recorded, an 8.5-year-old female in Malaysian Borneo's rainforests, offering a glimpse into the life of one of the world's most elusive wild cats.
The research, conducted in partnership among Panthera, the global wild cat conservation organisation, Sabah Forestry Department, the Sabah Wildlife Department and the indigenous peoples of Sabah, is the first to document a female's lifespan in the wild. The data confirmed that these leopards are far more mobile than previously assumed, with some individuals travelling up to 36km between forest reserves.
Females were 68% harder to detect than males. Camera trap data suggests why females spend far more time in the trees, their slender bodies and fluffier tails help them balance there. Males, by contrast, spend much of their time on the ground patrolling and re-marking territory, which is why they turn up on camera more often.
Found on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, the Sunda clouded leopard, known as the "ghost of the forest", is rarely seen and carries the largest canine teeth of any wild cat relative to body size, drawing comparisons to sabre-toothed cats. The species is classified as "vulnerable" on the IUCN Red List, with populations declining due to deforestation, illegal hunting and habitat fragmentation.
The study's dataset was made possible by the indigenous communities of Sabah, who serve as wildlife rangers and community engagement officers for Panthera, patrolling dense terrain, running camera trap networks and acting as frontline guardians against poachers. The partnership began in 2020 through work on human-elephant conflict and grew into community reporting of illegal logging and, eventually, government-funded ranger stipends.
