Two forms of world's 'newest' cat, the Sunda leopard

[Treffie]

The "newest" cat species described to science, the Sunda clouded leopard, actually exists in two distinct forms, scientists have confirmed.

This big cat is so enigmatic that researchers only realised it was a new species - distinct from clouded leopards living elsewhere in Asia - in 2007. The first footage of the cat in the wild to made public was only released last year.

Now a genetic analysis has confirmed that the cat comes in two forms, one living in Sumatra, the other on Borneo.

Clouded leopards are the most elusive of all the big cats, which include lions, tigers, jaguars, snow leopards and normal spotted leopards.

So far we can only speculate about the specific course of events in the evolution of the clouded leopard

Link to pics and video (http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9369000/9369238.stm)

[lei.talk]

The Sundaland clouded leopard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunda_Clouded_Leopard), a recently described new species of big cat, has been caught on camera. FULL-LENGTH (HD) FOOTAGE courtesy of A Wilting (http://www.cloudedleopard.org/default.aspx?link=andreas)/A Mohamed/Cat News. It is the very first video footage of the newly discovered Borneo Clouded Leopard from Asia. The film, the first footage of the cat in the wild to be made public, has been released by scientists working in the Dermakot Forest Reserve (http://www.deramakot.sabah.gov.my/english/index.htm) in Malaysia.

~NBGfilms (http://www.youtube.com/user/NBGfilms)~
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[Tom Cat]

Here is a photo depicting the rare "Golden Cat":



http://i918.photobucket.com/albums/ad25/GarethLeeHunter/Miscellaneous/52DGoldenCat.jpg