Formosan Clouded Leopard
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
| Formosan Clouded Leopard Conservation status: Extinct (1980s) | ||||||||||||||||
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| Neofelis nebulosa brachyurus (Swinhoe, 1862) |
The Formosan Clouded Leopard is a subspecies of Clouded Leopard that was endemic to the island of Taiwan and now believed to be extinct. Its tail is slightly shorter than that of other subspecies of Clouded Leopard.
It was the largest native wildlife on Taiwan, after the Formosan Black Bear. After extensive loggings at its natural habitat, the leopards were forced to retreat into the Jade Mountain and Dawu Mountain. After the 1980s, there has been no sightings of this animals.
The Rukai Taiwanese aborigines believed that their ancestors transformed from these leopards.
