Rare Bornean Leopard Caught by Camera for First Time since 2010

A Bornean Clouded Leopard (Neofelis diardi), found only on Borneo and Indonesia's Sumatra is seen in the Deramakot Forest Reserve in Malaysia's Sabah state, November 6, 2017. (Reuters)
A Bornean Clouded Leopard (Neofelis diardi), found only on Borneo and Indonesia's Sumatra is seen in the Deramakot Forest Reserve in Malaysia's Sabah state, November 6, 2017. (Reuters)
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Rare Bornean Leopard Caught by Camera for First Time since 2010

A Bornean Clouded Leopard (Neofelis diardi), found only on Borneo and Indonesia's Sumatra is seen in the Deramakot Forest Reserve in Malaysia's Sabah state, November 6, 2017. (Reuters)
A Bornean Clouded Leopard (Neofelis diardi), found only on Borneo and Indonesia's Sumatra is seen in the Deramakot Forest Reserve in Malaysia's Sabah state, November 6, 2017. (Reuters)

A Bornean leopard and her two cubs were captured on camera strolling through a Malaysian forest reserve two weeks ago, a rare daytime sighting of the elusive animals in the wild.

Found only on the Southeast Asian islands of Borneo and Sumatra, the big cat species is known to zoologists as Neofelis diardi, with just 700 estimated to live in a habitat shrunk by poaching and deforestation.

“Seeing it in daytime is nearly unheard of, and never with its young,” said Michael Gordon, who filmed the animals cross a road and walk into bush in Deramakot in Malaysia’s on Borneo, where camera traps first spotted the cats in 2010.

This animal feeds on monkeys, small deer, birds and lizards, and is the main predator on Borneo, an island shared by Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.



Syria Seeks EU Help to Battle Massive Wildfires

FILE : A fire burns at a forest in Latakia province, Syria in this handout released by SANA on October 9, 2020. SANA/Handout via REUTERS
FILE : A fire burns at a forest in Latakia province, Syria in this handout released by SANA on October 9, 2020. SANA/Handout via REUTERS
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Syria Seeks EU Help to Battle Massive Wildfires

FILE : A fire burns at a forest in Latakia province, Syria in this handout released by SANA on October 9, 2020. SANA/Handout via REUTERS
FILE : A fire burns at a forest in Latakia province, Syria in this handout released by SANA on October 9, 2020. SANA/Handout via REUTERS

Syria’s minister of emergencies and disaster management on Tuesday requested support from the European Union to battle wildfires that have swept through a vast stretch of forested land.

The fires have been burning for six days, with Syrian emergency crews struggling to bring them under control amid strong winds and severe drought.

Neighboring countries Jordan, Lebanon and Türkiye have already dispatched firefighting teams to assist in the response.

“We asked the European Union for help in extinguishing the fires,” minister Raed al-Saleh said on X, adding Cyprus was expected to send aid on Tuesday, AFP reported.

“Fear of the fires spreading due to strong winds last night prompted us to evacuate 25 families to ensure their safety without any human casualties,” he added.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) office in Syria, the fires impacted “some 5,000 persons, including displacements, across 60 communities.”

An estimated 100 square kilometers (40 square miles) of forest and farmland -- more than three percent of Syria’s forest cover -- have burned, OCHA told AFP.

At least seven towns in Latakia province have been evacuated as a precaution.

Efforts to extinguish the fires have been hindered by “rugged terrain, the absence of firebreaks, strong winds, and the presence of mines and unexploded ordnance”, Saleh said.

With man-made climate change increasing the likelihood and intensity of droughts and wildfires worldwide, Syria has also been battered by heatwaves and low rainfall.

In June, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said Syria had “not seen such bad climate conditions in 60 years.”