A Clouded Leopard Skin Hangs in a Naga Kitchen

A full-grown Clouded Leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) coat hangs inside a Naga kitchen. It was shot during the obligatory ‘no-hunting season’ by the village headman of Zipu village near Shatuza on the Indo-Myanmar border. Skins and skulls of various rarely seen species are part of common adornment in the kitchens’ of many Naga tribes. In a recent biodiversity survey, wildlife biologists of NCBS found skulls of the extremely rare Leaf Deer (Muntiacus putaoensis) — only the second record from the country. The Clouded Leopard is classified as vulnerable in 2008 by IUCN.