Clouded leopards found at 3,700 meter altitude in Nagaland

In what has been called a significant finding, a team of researchers have camera-trapped four clouded leopards for the first time in Nagaland at an elevation of 3,700 meter in a community-owned forest near the Indo-Myanmar border.

Two adults and two cubs of clouded leopards, which are normally known to inhabit low elevation evergreen rainforests were recorded at Thanamir village in Kiphire district. The 65-sqkm community-owned forest houses Nagaland's highest peak, Mount Saramati.

The survey was part of a joint initiative of the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), a New Delhi-based conservation NGO and Thanamir village.

"We believe this is one of the highest records ever of a clouded leopard in India. Our study highlights that clouded leopards are able to use areas much higher than previously thought. All high elevation records are from the summer months suggesting that clouded

leopards may seasonally expand their range upwards as the snow recedes and higher ridges attract prey," said a paper on the findings, which was published in the Winter 2021 issue of Cat News, a newsletter of the IUCN/Species Survival Commission.

Clouded leopards were earlier sighted in high-elevation areas in Sikkim (3,720 meter), in Bhutan (3,600 meter), Nepal (3,498 meter) and in Dibang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh (3,140 meter). But these were in state protected areas.

"Local communities in Nagaland own and manage a large majority of the region’s forests, with a range of village-specific management regimes. Our surveys found these community

forests to host a high diversity and abundance of several globally threatened taxa,"

The paper was authored by Ramya Nair, Avinash Basker, Sahil Nijhawan, Alemba Yimkhiung, Hankiumong Yimkhiung, Kiyanmong Yimkhiung, Yapmuli Yimkhiung and Toshi Wungtung.

The medium-sized felid, the clouded leopard is the smallest of the large wild cats and has been categorised as "vulnerable" in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

The survey team placed camera traps in Thanamir forest between January and June 2020 and again between July and September last year. The survey recorded 23 species of mammals including Asiatic golden cat Catopuma temminckii, marbled cat Pardofelis marmorata and leopard cat Prionailurus bengalensis.

Thanamir village authorities imposed a series of restrictions ranging from

partial, seasonal to blanket hunting bans to protect wildlife in the community forest. The clouded leopard is called Khephak in the local Chirr dialect of the indigenous Yimkhiung Naga people of the region, which means a greyish big cat, the paper said.

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