Context-Recently a research paper published by over 20 researchers from across the globe has helped understand Clouded leopards habitats, migration corridors and laid out the conservation strategies

• the model looked at nine countries (Bhutan, Nepal, India, Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar) and suggested that only 9.44% of the studied region was ‘highly’ suitable for clouded leopards (Neofelis nebulosa).
• Dampa tiger reserve in Mizoram has one of the highest population densities of clouded leopards.

Dampa Tiger Reserve or Dampha Tiger Reserve 

• is a tiger reserve of western Mizoram, India. It covers an area of about 500 km²(190 sq mi) in the Lushai Hills at an altitude range of 800–1,100 m (2,600–3,600 ft). It was declared a tiger reserve in 1994 and is part of Project Tiger.
• The tropical forests of Dampa Tiger Reserve are home to a diverse flora and fauna. It consists of forest interpolated with steep precipitous hills, deep valleys, jungle streams, ripping rivulets, natural salts licks.
• Dampa Tiger Reserve is not easily accessible unlike other park where you can ride on a four wheeler but one has to walk through the forest if one wishes to sight animals.
• In tiger census of 2018, no tiger was found in this reserve.

Effort to increase Clouded Leopard number

• Dampa TR  receives funding from the National Tiger Conservation Authority on an annual basis which helps it maintain over 100 daily wage forest guards, and conduct patrolling, which perhaps allows sustain this incredible biodiversity.
• In 2018, India added clouded leopards to its Recovery Programme for Critically Endangered Species to aid more research and strengthen conservation efforts

Clouded Leopard

• Vulnerable– IUCN Red List
• state animal of Meghalaya
• CITES Appendix I animal
• Named after the distinctive ‘clouds’ on its coat – ellipses partially edged in black, with the insides a darker colour than the background colour of the pelt.

Habitat

• Tropical evergreen rainforests but can also be found in dry tropical forests and mangrove swamps. It has been found at relatively high altitudes in the Himalayas
• Range : Himalayan foothills through mainland Southeast Asia into China
• India : Assam, northern West Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura
• It was also noted that when the closed-canopy forest cover declined by just 35%, the clouded leopard detection dropped by 25%. This shows that clouded leopard presence was positively associated with forest cover and rain, suggesting that deforestation and reduction in rainfall patterns as a result of climate change may negatively influence clouded leopard distributions.