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I'm sorry if the photos glitch initially, just give them a moment to load :)
this post was sponsored by the sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis Diardi). click for fun facts!
• The Sunda clouded leopard was recognized as a distinct species from the Mainland clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) in 2007! (WWF, 2007) Although they're often confused because of their close range alongside their morphological similarities (im actually more sure that the gif above is a mainland clouded leopard rather than a sunda clouded leopard).
• Clouded leopards are actually considered "big cats" in the scientific community despite their size. The distinction of big cats from small cats (which I could make an entire blog about,) is not based on the size of the species and instead it's based on the complexity of their vocal structures, derived from evolutionary relationships. In the cat family (felidae), there are two subfamilies: pantherinae (big cats) and felinae (small cats). Clouded leopards belong to the pantherinae subfamily, aka they're technically speaking, big cats! Despite their size :) 
• Clouded leopards have the biggest fangs relative to skull size of any alive cat! They can also open up their mouths to an extraordinary 100-degrees. (Smithsonian's National Zoo, N/A.)
• Despite what the name implies, clouded leopards are NOT leopards. Neither are snow leopards. Contemporary data actually suggests that clouded leopards branched off from other big cats first! Possibly over 6 million years ago. (Smithsonian's National Zoo, N/A.)
This will be updated and added to! Thanks for reading :)
disclaimer: I'm not a professional in any sense. I'm just a high schooler who's really passionate about biology and cats
pictures of myself except im a guy with no clue how to take photos of myself
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Obie Ramsey Doomsday
Super cool post! Man, taxonomy and naming schemes can sure get confusing lol
Taxonomy is my favourite science!! Its so much cooler then people give it credit for
by ashton; ; Report
Honestly I agree, it's super underrated. Don't know much about it myself, but what I do is really neat!
by Obie Ramsey Doomsday; ; Report
people think its lame because they don't realize all the intricacies of it :( even the language we use for taxonomy fascinates me. Carl Linnaeus you're the GOAT (the scientist who standardized how we name organisms)
like the fact after you read more into taxonomy you begin to understand whats a genus or subspecies or family vs subfamily or whatever just based off the name is CRAZY! like obviously just saying clade (the broad term to describe just a grouping of organisms - so like, a family or order or whatever) because theres standardized suffixs IS SO SICK TO ME! and thats just the language we use.
i could talk about how taxonomy can so greatly impact how people view and understand the world (i believe because taxonomy isn't taught properly to people they have a poor understanding of the world and all of the beautiful life that surrounds them) on and on and on.
phylogenetic trees are my goats i want a wall FULL OF THEM!
by ashton; ; Report
Honestly I agree about taxonomy not being taught in schools. People would have such a bigger interest in learning about and caring about the living things if they understood taxonomy!
by Obie Ramsey Doomsday; ; Report
TheTrueActualSonic
THAT. THAT SONIC SHIRT. I'M STEALING IT. ALONG WITH YOUR CAT. >:)
ALSO Snow leopards aren't even leopards??? What are they then? My first fursona was literally an snow leopard I'm soo shocked
RAAHH THANK YOU VRO ITS ONE OF MY FAVOURITE SHIRTS!!!! I GOT IT AT TARGET ON CLEARANCE HAHA
The naming scheme of cats and animals in general can be shocking and misleading if you arent into taxonomy (taxonomy is the study of classifications and it includes phylogenetic trees and all that good stuff). Basically, the term "leopard" doesn't really mean anything. For example, there's the leopard cat, which is distinct from the leopard, and only named such because of it's patterning. Snow leopards and leopards are kind of like, siblings in a way. They're part of the same genus, a genus is the rank above species which groups closely related species together.
If we grouped snow leopards as "leopards" then jaguars would be wedged between that, and we'd possibly need to include lions as well. And these animals already have a grouping scheme. Lions, jaguars, tigers, snow leopards and leopards are all considered "pantherins" because they're in the same genus, panthera
Basically, a species common name being a "leopard" (clouded leopards, snow leopards, leopard cats) has no relation to its actual evolutionary relationship to the leopard. Thats common names for you, often very misleading :') It's like leopard seals! They certainly aren't leopards, and neither is the snow leopard
by ashton; ; Report
WHATTT THAT'S AWESOMESAUCE, Biology class teachin me nothing those days
Living and learning frfr
by TheTrueActualSonic; ; Report
i freaking love biology!!! im hoping since im going into the senior years that we'll get to go more in depth :)
by ashton; ; Report
Hats 9999
ahhh, you're so pretty! I love your hair too <3
also love the animal facts! keep them coming :]
AW THANK YOU SO MUCH MAN !!!!! IVE HAD THE SAME HIARTSYLE PRETTY MUCH SINCE I WAS 11 HAHA!!!! I have had like mullets and such since then, the fourth picture is a grown out mullet! im actually planning to go back to it eventually HAHA
by ashton; ; Report