{"id":972284,"date":"2026-07-31T23:21:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T23:21:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/972284\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T23:21:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T23:21:18","slug":"research-cameras-capture-oldest-ghost-cat-ever-recorded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/972284\/","title":{"rendered":"Research Cameras Capture Oldest \u2018Ghost\u2019 Cat Ever Recorded"},"content":{"rendered":"

The islands of Borneo and Sumatra in Southeast Asia are known for their thriving rainforests. Here in these dense ecosystems, it\u2019s easy to spy amazing animals like long-tailed macaques, rhinoceros hornbills and saltwater crocodiles.<\/p>\n

But not all rainforest-dwellers are so easily spotted. The Sunda clouded leopard, \u201cone of the most mysterious wild cats on Earth<\/a>,\u201d is very rarely seen, even by scientists. That is, until just recently, when a team of researchers caught one on camera and realized she was even more special than they thought.<\/p>\n

Panthera\/Sabah Forestry Department\/Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research<\/p>\n

The research team<\/a>, comprising academics from the Sabah Forestry Department<\/a>, the Sabah Wildlife Department, and the indigenous peoples of Sabah, in partnership with Panthera<\/a>, used hidden cameras to track these leopards over many years to further conservation efforts.<\/p>\n

According to a press release, Sunda clouded leopards are so rare they\u2019re known as \u201cthe ghost of the forest.\u201d Once more prevalent, their numbers declined over the years due to deforestation, illegal hunting and habitat fragmentation. Today, they\u2019re classified as \u201cvulnerable\u201d on the IUCN Red List<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"leopardPanthera\/Sabah Forestry Department\/Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research<\/p>\n

Poring over their footage, the scientists saw someone amazing \u2014 a female Sunda clouded leopard first documented more than 6 years earlier as an adult, making her at least 8 and a half years old, and the oldest ever recorded.<\/p>\n

The sighting was notable not just because of the leopard\u2019s age, but because of her gender as well. According to experts, females are much harder to spot than males.<\/p>\n

\u201cFemales spend far more time in the trees, and their slender bodies and fluffier tails help them balance there,\u201d the press release reads. \u201cMales, by contrast, spend much of their time on the ground patrolling and re-marking territory, which is why they turn up on camera more often.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"leopardPanthera\/Sabah Forestry Department\/Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research<\/p>\n

The data set also confirmed suspicions that these leopards are more mobile than scientists initially thought, with some leopards traveling over 22 miles between locations.<\/p>\n

Researchers are hopeful that this new information can inform future studies and help protect these beloved cats for years to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe female clouded leopard at the heart of this study spent years navigating a landscape shaped by logging and human activity \u2014 and outlasted every wild clouded leopard on record,\u201d Panthera wrote in a piece<\/a>. \u201cHer persistence is a reminder of what these cats are capable of and what becomes possible when we give them the science and habitat they need to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Wildlife<\/a>Wildlife Photographer Captures Magical Moment Leopard Meets A Dung BeetleShe can’t believe her eyes.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The islands of Borneo and Sumatra in Southeast Asia are known for their thriving rainforests. Here in these…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":972285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[27],"tags":[19259,19258,746,160477,42386,159,10235,19256,67,132,68,837],"class_list":["post-972284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-animal-encounters","tag-daily-dodo","tag-environment","tag-leopard","tag-maeve-dunigan","tag-science","tag-standard","tag-the-dodo","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-wildlife"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117017161974333807","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/972284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=972284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/972284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/972285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=972284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=972284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=972284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}