A rare clouded leopard has been photographed in Bangladesh’s Inani National Park in Cox’s Bazar, providing new evidence of the species’ persistence in one of the country’s fragmented forest landscapes.
The photograph was captured during a wildlife survey conducted between November 2022 and November 2023, according to a study titled “Mammalian persistence and conservation priorities in a fragmented tropical refuge of Bangladesh,” published in the Journal for Nature Conservation on March 18, 2026.
Researchers surveyed 32 sites across the 7,085-hectare national park using 15 camera traps and recorded 23 species of wild mammals.
The clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) was detected at three locations, with 13 photographs recorded across 9 detection events, the study said.
Researchers estimated the species’ occupancy at 0.24, indicating that it was present in roughly one-quarter of the surveyed area.
The survey also recorded several other species important for conservation, including Asian elephants, western hoolock gibbons, capped langurs, leopard cats, jungle cats and hog badgers.
Bipul Krishna Das, director of the Bangladesh Wildlife Center of the Forest Department and lead author of the study, said the survey used 15 camera traps at 32 sites in Inani National Park.
The researchers found that habitat condition was closely linked to mammal diversity in the park. Areas with more natural forest supported greater wildlife diversity, while plantations and heavily altered areas supported less.
The study said the clouded leopard is regarded as Critically Endangered in Bangladesh, while the International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies the species as Vulnerable globally.
It found that Inani serves as a refuge and corridor for threatened mammals in southeastern Bangladesh, while cautioning that the forest remains under pressure from human activities.
Deforestation, forest encroachment and livestock grazing can degrade and fragment habitats, reducing the area suitable for wildlife, the researchers said.
They recommended restoring degraded areas with native vegetation, strengthening protection along vulnerable forest boundaries and involving local communities in conservation efforts.
The researchers also stressed the importance of closely monitoring wildlife in the park to better understand how threatened species use the fragmented forest landscape.
The study was conducted by researchers from Bangladesh and Germany and was published in Volume 92 of the Journal for Nature Conservation.
