Environment and Disaster Management › Species in news
हिन्दी — Read in HindiBig cats
The big cats of India as species, and what protects each: their status, range and census, the programmes built around them, translocations, and the international alliances for their conservation. Prelims has asked whether the Asiatic lion is found naturally only in India.
Foundation notes: The tiger · The Asiatic lion
Showing 1 of 3 articles, those that changed from 1 to 31 August 2026.Show all
Clouded leopard
The clouded leopard
Copy link to The clouded leopardPrelims
The mainland clouded leopard, Neofelis nebulosa, is a forest cat of the Himalaya and Northeast India and the State animal of Meghalaya.
- It is Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List and in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
- The pressure on it is the break up of that forest into separated patches.
- India's first Clouded Leopard Conservation Action Plan, of July 2026, works at the scale of landscapes rather than single reserves: it names 14 priority landscapes in the Northeast and asks for the corridors between them to be restored.
- The Species Recovery Programme under the Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats scheme also applies to it.
What changed
4 Aug 2026BriefThe clouded leopard became the subject of India's first Conservation Action Plan, naming 14 priority landscapes. PIB, 4 Aug 2026: First Conservation Action Plan for the clouded leopard (opens in a new tab)
6 Aug 2026BriefMeghalaya launched Mission Clouded Leopard. The Hindu, 6 Aug 2026: Meghalaya launches Mission Clouded Leopard (opens in a new tab)
Also filed elsewhere
- Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve · on Protected areas, tiger reserves and eco sensitive zones
Nagarjunasagar Srisailam is India's largest tiger reserve, in the Nallamala hills of the Eastern Ghats across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
- Voluntary relocation from tiger reserves: Satkosia · on Protected areas, tiger reserves and eco sensitive zones
Voluntary relocation is the moving of a village out of a tiger reserve's core area with the consent of its people, and Satkosia Tiger Reserve in Odisha is the test case.