What clouded leopard subspecies from Taiwan was officially declared extinct in 2013?

The Formosan Clouded Leopard was the Taiwanese clouded-leopard population officially declared extinct in 2013. It lived only on Taiwan, where it was one of the island’s largest native carnivores, second in size mainly to the Formosan black bear.

The animal was described from Taiwan in the nineteenth century and was once treated as the subspecies Neofelis nebulosa brachyurus. Extensive camera-trapping surveys from 1997 to 2012 covered more than 1,450 sites and recorded many potential prey species, but no clouded leopards. The last confirmed physical record was a young animal’s skin found in 1989.

Habitat loss, logging, and hunting contributed to its disappearance. Some alleged sightings were reported in 2018, but they were not confirmed. A common mix-up is confusing this animal with the Sunda clouded leopard, which is a separate species found on Borneo and Sumatra. Modern genetic work also questions whether the Formosan population was a distinct subspecies, but the stored answer is the standard trivia name.