🐆 CLOUDED LEOPARD ─ Saber-Tooth Cats Still Exist ! 🐆

You might have heard of the very ferocious saber-toothed tiger that existed during the Ice Age and even seen this fierce creature in the Ice Age movie franchise. Just like in the movie, saber-toothed cats existed from the Eocene through the Pleistocene Epoch. Saber-toothed cats were typically larger and stronger than modern felines, with a bear-like physique. They were known for their specialized hunting skills and were great predators who could bring down large animals. Their last representatives became extinct about 10,000 years ago, the reason for which was the decline in the number of their main prey, large and relatively clumsy mammals such as prehistoric bison and mammoths. Nevertheless, at present, there is still a species of cat, in many features of their structure and behavior, similar to the extinct saber-toothed, and is the beast of today's video. Meet the clouded leopard. The clouded leopard is found in many areas of continental Southeast Asia, including China, Thailand, and Vietnam. They are unique and hard to find. They're challenging to examine in the field, since they're so good at camouflaging into the undergrowth greenery before being spotted. These cats are thought to inhabit mostly lowland tropical rainforests, although they have also been seen in secondary forests and dry woods. In addition to the common clouded leopard, also called the mainland clouded leopard, there is a second species, the Bornean clouded leopard, found in the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Compared to other big cats, the clouded leopard is rather small. Its body reaches 1 meter in length and weighs around 25 kilograms. At the same time, the clouded leopard has a very massive structure, including relatively short and very powerful legs. This structure of the limbs is associated with the lifestyle of the clouded leopard, as it spends most of its time in trees and is the best among big cats to climb and jump on branches. The short, powerful, and extremely mobile legs are perfect for this lifestyle. Thanks to the very rolling stalk on its hind legs, clouded leopards are even able to go down the trunks of trees, upside down. They are also called vampire cats. No, clouded leopards do not drink blood. They do, however, have extremely long canine teeth. In fact, these predators have the longest canine teeth of any feline when compared to their body size. In the scientific world, this has earned them the nickname modern-day saber-tooth. Of course, this turns out to be the most interesting feature of the clouded leopard that strikes the eye, the length of which can reach almost 5 centimeters. For comparison, the tiger's fangs are only one and a half times longer, despite the fact that its body mass can be more than 10 times the mass of a clouded leopard. But why does a clouded leopard need such giant fangs? To answer this question, let's go back to saber-toothed cats. Why did they need huge, saber-like fangs? It is believed that the giant fangs of saber-toothed cats were a specialized weapon for hunting very large prey. Imagine a very large animal, such as an elephant. Even though the elephant has neither shell nor thorns, it is very well protected. Its skin reaches a thickness of 4 centimeters, and its vital organs are located at a fairly large distance from the surface of the skin. And even if a predator who decided to hunt an elephant has very powerful jaws and sharp but short teeth, then such a hunt can take a very long time and burn a lot of energy, and at the same time it is not at all a fact that it will be successful in the end. A predator with short teeth, even if it can bite through the skin of an elephant, simply cannot get to the vital organs too quickly to kill it. That's why predators such as lions, when hunting for elephants, almost always spend a lot of time and effort to kill them, and as a result, they are often left with nothing. But if the predator has huge fangs, the task of killing large prey is greatly simplified. In this case, the most important thing is to carefully immobilize the prey so as not to break the canines, and then apply a powerful bite to a vital place, for example, the neck, where the trachea and large blood vessels are located. Clouded leopards indeed often target relatively large prey, such as tropical sambar deer, weighing 300 kilograms, and bearded pigs, weighing up to 150 kilograms. But the most important task of the long tusks of the clouded leopard is not to hunt very large prey, but to quickly kill small and medium prey. Since the clouded leopard mainly hunts in the crowns of trees, at a height of more than 20 meters from the ground, a very important condition for hunting in such conditions is the rapid killing of prey, because with a protracted struggle, the likelihood of loss of balance and falling from the tree greatly increases. In addition, prey living in trees are often far from harm's way. Supination, or the ability to rotate their ankles when climbing, is a trait of clouded leopards. This implies that these acrobatic felines can scale trees headfirst. They can even swing from their back legs and grip things with their front paws. These cats are not only adept climbers, but they also spend most of their lives in the trees. They hunt, relax, and This agile predator climbs trees with the help of its long tail, low center of gravity, and muscular legs. Clouded leopards may leap up to four feet in the air to get access to a tree or another branch. Clouded leopards also eat quite aggressive and repulsive animals, such as various types of including bear macaques weighing up to 10 kilograms, and also the Himalayan civet, which weighs up to 6 kilograms and itself often attacks various small animals. Long fangs and powerful paws allow the clouded leopard to quickly grab its prey, fix it, and immediately inflict a deep fatal bite in the nape of the head, which instantly kills the prey and protects the clouded leopard from a long and dangerous fight with it. Occasionally, clouded leopards are faced with unusual prey. In 2018, a clouded leopard, who lived in a private wildlife park in the English county of Cornwall, escaped and hid for almost a week in the fields of a nearby farm, and managed to kill several sheep during this time. As a result, the leopard was caught by the owner of the farm and returned to the owner. It is quite logical that in order to use long canines, a predator needs the ability to open its mouth wide. Indeed, the clouded leopard is capable of opening its mouth to almost 90 degrees, which is much wider than all other modern cats. For comparison, tigers and lions can open their mouths no more than 70 degrees. Moreover, for some representatives of saber-toothed cats, the opening angle of the mouth was as much as 120 degrees. The clouded leopard cannot roar like larger cats due to a distinct bone structure in its neck, and it also cannot purr because it lacks the completely ossified hyoid bone that allows small cats to do so. Growling, hissing, and chuffing are some of the vocalizations employed by these cats. As they spend most of their time in the woods, they communicate with one another through scent marking. When a female is ready to mate, she scent marks her territory and awaits for a male to approach. Males are twice as massive as females, and during courting, they can hurt or kill them. Females are wary of such encounters with males and choose their mates carefully. After around three months of gestation, the mother normally gives birth to a litter of three cubs. Young cubs might take up to two years to completely develop their autonomy. Even though the clouded leopard is not a true representative of the extinct saber-toothed cats, it has great potential for further evolution into a specialized hunter for large prey, and it is quite possible that in a few million years, the descendants of clouded leopards will significantly increase in size, acquire even longer canines, powerful paws, and give rise to new saber-toothed cats. Of course, clouded leopards will have such an opportunity only if they are not completely exterminated by humans. Poaching of these cats has been and continues to be popular because of their distinct coat patterns. These cats are steadily declining as a result of illegal hunting and excessive habitat destruction, as only about 10,000 clouded leopards remain in nature. Moreover, clouded leopard parts are being used instead of tiger parts, since tiger parts are becoming limited for traditional Chinese medicine. Hence, the clouded leopard is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Fortunately, researchers have begun to have success with clouded leopard captive breeding projects. In recent years, numerous measures have been taken to protect and breed them, thanks to which the extinction of the clouded leopard is no longer threatened at present. In zoos, these cats are provided with a lot of space for exercising. They are also given numerous climbing chances to assist them in living a more natural lifestyle. Their food mainly comprises of beef knuckle bones and a commercially produced zoo carnivore diet. They are also given a range of enrichment items, such as water sources, puzzle feeders, and even ice blocks with frozen papaya. Tell us what you think of this beautiful, unique, agile, acrobatic, saber-toothed feline beast in the comment section below. Also, don't forget to leave a like on this video, smash that subscribe button, and hit the notification bell for more Amazing Beasts! Thank you for watching. See you on the next one!