Individual-level movement and space use of Sunda clouded leopards revealed by GPS telemetry and camera traps in a human-modified Bornean landscape

Hearn, Andrew J., Nájera, Fernando, Bolongon, Gilmoore, Evans, Meaghan N., Lai, Sandra, Teoh, Shu Woan, Guerrero Sánchez, Sergio, Abram, Nicola K., Bakar, Mohd Abu Soffian, Macdonald, David W. and Goossens, Benoit ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2360-4643 2026. Individual-level movement and space use of Sunda clouded leopards revealed by GPS telemetry and camera traps in a human-modified Bornean landscape. Animal Biotelemetry 10.1186/s40317-026-00474-0

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Abstract

High-resolution telemetry can reveal how elusive carnivores move and use space in fragmented, human-modified landscapes. The Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi), a forest-dependent felid endemic to Borneo and Sumatra, remains among the least-studied large tropical carnivores, with very limited individual-level movement data. We present the first high-resolution GPS telemetry dataset for the species, using 20-min GPS fixes from four collared adults, integrated with concurrent long-term camera-trap surveys to examine individual space use, movement, diel activity, and patterns of site sharing in a multiple-use landscape in Malaysian Borneo. Home-range estimates, based on three individuals monitored for 39–103 days and derived using multiple estimators, showed that two adult males occupied similar (~ 41 km² each; 100% k-LoCoH) and largely exclusive (~ 8% intra-male overlap) ranges that were constrained to forest, whereas kernel density estimation (KDE) and 95% minimum convex polygons (MCP) estimates were several-fold larger and extended beyond forest boundaries. A tracked female occupied a smaller range (~ 7 km²; k-LoCoH) that overlapped extensively with one male (68.5%) and to a lesser extent with another (20.9%). Camera trap surveys yielded 264 independent detections of nine individuals (four males, five females), with detections across camera stations predominantly solitary (> 85% of 30–60-day station-windows). However, a single forested ridgeline in an otherwise largely flat floodplain emerged as a marked hotspot (> 50% of detections), repeatedly visited by multiple individuals and containing most observed scent-marking events, indicating that this ridgeline functions as a communication site. Telemetry revealed cathemeral movement characterised by short travel bouts interspersed with prolonged stationary periods concentrated in forest; males moved up to 13 km day⁻¹ and travelled faster through oil palm and along roads (0.68–1.49 km h⁻¹) than in forest (0.37–0.53 km h⁻¹). Camera-trap data indicated dawn activity peaks in both sexes and a dusk peak in females (Δ₄ = 0.74). These results provide a descriptive, individual-level account of movement and space use, and demonstrate how integrating GPS telemetry with camera-trap detections can inform movement ecology for rare carnivores in complex, human-modified landscapes.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Schools > Biosciences
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	9 July 2026
Date of Acceptance:	1 June 2026
Last Modified:	09 Jul 2026 13:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/188105

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