Another New Species

The World Wildlife Fund announced the discovery of a new species of leopard earlier this week. Or rather, the WWF announced the discovery that the clouded leopards that live on Sumatra and Borneo are a distinct species from the clouded leopards that live on the Asian mainland.

As may be expected, DNA testing played a large part in helping to determine that the two populations were separate species, but it was not the only evidence. Scientists also discovered that there were differences in skin colouration and fur patterns. As Andrew Kitchener of the National Museums of Scotland said in a masterful example of understatement, "It's incredible that no one has ever noticed these differences."

The identification as a separate species means that there have been three species of carnivores discovered in Borneo since the turn of the century. (The other two are a "cat fox" and a species of civet.) One has to wonder how many other species are yet to be discovered living in the jungles of Indonesia. Hopefully, separate species status will result in better protection for the estimated 8 -18,000 cats living on the two Indonesian islands.

NOTE: The animal in the photograph is the clouded leopard that resides in the Malayan Woods pavilion at the Metro Toronto Zoo. I am unsure of which species it belongs to.