Bengal tigers, Asian elephants, Ganges river dolphins, langurs and hoolock gibbons, along with a few other endangered and vulnerable animal species, have been prominent in Bangladesh’s wildlife conservation scenario for the last few decades.
Now, new animals have grasped the attention of some wildlife researchers and conservationists, as camera traps and wildlife census reveal the presence of other species that have not been considered present in the country for a long time. The clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) is one of them, which researchers recently found in camera trap footages.
These carnivores occur in the some parts of South Asian and Southeast Asian countries, but have been fast losing their habitat. IUCN declared the species vulnerable globally in 2021.
“In 2023, I found one clouded leopard in a camera trap [footage] while working on a [study about] the ecology and conservation of bears and dholes in eastern Bangladesh,” said Muntasir Akash, a faculty member at the University of Dhaka’s zoology department.
He said that although there is no official record of the species in Bangladesh, clouded leopards have been sporadically spotted in various parts of the country since 2006.
Akash, who specializes in studying carnivore species, has been collecting information on clouded leopard sightings in Bangladesh for the last 20 years. He said that, in most cases, the specimens they recorded were captured by local people while collecting natural resources or by poachers caught by law enforcement authorities.
According to his count, one clouded leopard was found in Jamalpur district in 2006, three in Rangamati district in 2009, two in Bandarban district in 2014 and 2015, one in Sangu-Matamuhari forests in 2018, two in the Kaptai National Park in 2021, and one in the Barkal area of Rangamati in 2022.
The clouded leopard is among the 17 IUCN-declared critically endangered mammals in Bangladesh. Akash said the Sangu-Matamuhari forest range in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in southeastern Bangladesh seems to be the last safe habitat for the clouded leopard population here.
The only observed specimen of clouded leopard in Bangladesh is now living at Dulahazara Safari Park in Cox’s Bazar district. The cat was captured from Rangamati in 2023 with the help of locals and law enforcers when it was seen roaming nearby, Rafiqul Islam Chowdhury, an official Chittagong Forest Circle, told Mongabay.
The clouded leopard is a unique wild cat that is considered to bridge the gap between big and small cats. It has big teeth but a petite body. The cat is known to prey on smaller animals like monkeys and rodents in the wild and has never been recorded attacking humans.
Wild cats deserve better in Bangladesh
Past studies have researched and made observations of the conservation efforts on the two big cats in Bangladesh — the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) and the Indian leopard (Panthera pardus fusca).
There’s an estimate of the tiger population in the country due to the official conservation efforts, but there is no official record of leopards and other wild cats as those have yet to come under conservation effort or any extensive research.
A 2017 study recorded Indian leopards in the hill forests of Cox’s Bazar. During their survey between July 2012 and March 2014, the researchers made one direct observance of a leopard and recorded the pugmarks in three different spots in Sheikh Jamal Inani National Park.
The study also attributed anthropogenic factors like illegal encroachment of forest lands, excessive disturbance of forests for collecting timber and fuel wood, and wildlife poaching as the major threats diminishing the habitats of leopards.
Based on the sporadic findings and other study analysis, Akash said he believes that wild cats, including the clouded leopard, are highly likely to exist in the forests of CHT, as the area has undisturbed forests that Bangladesh shares with the Tripura and Mizoram states of neighboring India.
Clouded leopards are not easy to spot due to their nocturnal nature and habitat in dense hill forests. At the same time, when the locals do spot them, they kill them as they often fail to distinguish them from the other cats. They consider them similar to leopards or something harmful to humans, said Farid Ahsan, a former zoology professor at the University of Chittagong.
Both zoologists think the species’ sporadic sightings indicate a good sign of habitation in the CHT’s wild, and they said the government and other conservation agencies should invest in research to determine the cat’s exact status so that official conservation strategies can be brought to place.
Citations:
Kabir, M. T., Ahsan, M. F. & Khatoon, A. (2017). Occurrence and conservation of the Indian Leopard (Mammalia: Carnivora: Felidae: Panthera pardus) in Cox’s Bazar District of Bangladesh. Journal of Threatened Taxa, Vol. 9 No. 6. doi:10.11609/jott.1898.9.6.10320-10324
Zakir, T., Akash, M., Rahman, S., Mila, F. T. Z. K., Trageser, S. & Ghose, A. (2021). Detecting the spots: A review on leopard occurrences in Bangladesh. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353776637_Detecting_the_spots_A_review_on_leopard_occurrences_in_Bangladesh
This article by Khadijatul Kobra was first published by Mongabay.com on 5 December 2024. Lead Image: The clouded leopard that researchers caught on a camera trap while studying the present status, ecology and conservation of bears and dholes in eastern Bangladesh, funded by the World Bank-funded SUFAL Small Innovation Grant. Image courtesy of Muntasir Akash.
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