Rare leopards found in Borneo forest: researcher

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

JAKARTA (AFP) — A new population of rare leopard has been found living in thick forests on the Indonesian half of Borneo island, a researcher said Thursday.

Camera traps in Sebangau National Park in Central Kalimantan province have snapped pictures of two adult male Bornean clouded leopards in an area once decimated by logging, British zoologist Susan Cheyne said.

The discovery by researchers from Oxford University's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit and Indonesia's Pangkalan Raya University is the first confirmation the clouded leopard, which is classified as vulnerable, lives in the park.

The discovery holds out new hope for the little-understood species, which numbers less than 10,000 individuals and is the top predator on Borneo island, Cheyne said....