Retired Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Susanta Nanda shared an old video featuring a rare sighting of a family of clouded leopards in a now-viral post on X.
Nanda posted the now-viral clip with the caption, “Elusive. Ethereal. Endangered. With barely 10,000 left in the wild and scattered sightings in NE India, the Clouded Leopard is our most secretive big cat. Here, a rare glimpse — a mother with her cubs, guardians of an ancient rainforest. A sight so rare that it’s mythical.”
The 22-second video, originally shared by the Orangutan Foundation on YouTube, was recorded using a camera trap in Indonesia’s Tanjung Puting National Park. It features a mother clouded leopard calmly making her way through the forest with her two cubs. Just before leaving the frame, one of the cubs pauses to curiously glance at the camera, adding a magical touch to the rare sighting.
Take a look at the post here:
The video has since garnered over 4,46,000 views, sparking awe and admiration amongst social media users.
“We are truly blessed to have several species of big cats in our country. We need to bring more land into wilderness and forests,” a user said, while another added, “Simply beautiful.”
“The second one is the inquisitive one,” said a viewer, referring to the cub that looked at the camera.
It is safe to say that the video truly gave the internet a reason to pause and smile.
Watch the original video here:
According to the Orangutan Foundation, the park officials confirmed that while clouded leopards have been recorded in the region before, this was the first time a mother with two cubs had been spotted. They said it was an encouraging sight to see the animals having young ones.
– Ends