The Formosan clouded leopard is a clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) population that was endemic to Taiwan. Camera trapping studies carried out in several protected areas in Taiwan between 1997 and 2012 did not record any clouded leopard. The population is listed as extinct on the IUCN Red List. Taxonomy Felis nebulosa was the scientific name proposed by Edward Griffith in 1821 who first described a skin of a clouded leopard that was brought alive from Canton Province in China to the menagerie at Exeter Exchange in London. Leopardus brachyurus was proposed by Robert Swinhoe in 1862 who described a skin of a clouded leopard from Formosa. It was later considered the clouded leopard subspecies Neofelis nebulosa brachyurus. However, genetic analysis of hair samples of Neofelis specimens revealed that the Formosan clouded leopard is not distinct from the mainland clouded leopard. The Formosan clouded leopard is therefore currently not recognised as a distinct clouded leopard subspecies. Characteristics It was first described in 1862 on the basis of a traded skin with an incomplete tail. Its fur colour is pale to tawny, and it has large cloud-like markings on the shoulders and flanks with a few spots within the clouds. In his first description of four Formosan clouded leopard skins, Swinhoe noted the shortness of its tail, which is about one-half the length of clouded leopard specimens from the Himalayas. Prior to its extirpation, it was Taiwan's second-largest carnivore, after the Formosan black bear (Ursus thibetanus formosanus). Last efforts An interview survey conducted in 1986 among 70 indigenous Taiwanese hunters revealed that they sighted a Formosan clouded leopard in the Tawu Mountain area in 1983 for the last time. In 1989, the skin of a young individual was found in the Taroko National Park area, which is the last confirmed record. Pugmarks reported in the 1990s near Yushan National Park were suspected, but not confirmed to be of a clouded leopard. It has been assumed that clouded leopards retreated into the Yushan Range and Tawu Mountain after extensive logging of natural habitat. Today, the Tawu Mountain Nature Reserve is a protected area encompassing about . It harbours the largest remaining primary forest in southern Taiwan and comprises tropical and subtropical rainforest as well as temperate broadleaf and mixed forest and temperate coniferous forest. Between 1997 and 2012, camera trapping surveys were conducted in more than 1,450 sites in potentially suitable habitats across