Scientists have identified a leopard found on the South-East Asian islands of Borneo and Sumatra as a new species of great cat, the global nature protection body WWF reported on Thursday.
Genetic and skin tests on the creature, now dubbed the Bornean clouded leopard, or Neofelis diardi, have shown that it is almost as different from clouded leopards found on the Asian mainland as lions are from tigers, the Swiss-based WWF said.
“For over 100 years we have been looking at this animal and never realised that it was unique,” said Stuart Chapman, coordinator of a WWF programme that aims at preserving the vast rain forests in a region known as the Heart of Borneo.
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