| Neofelis nebulosa
The Visayas, or the Visayan Islands, are one of the three principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Luzon and Mindanao. Located in the central part of the archipelago, it consists of several islands, primarily surrounding the Visayan Sea, although the Visayas are also considered the northeast extremity of the entire Sulu Sea. Its inhabitants are predominantly the Visayan peoples.
Neofelis is a genus comprising two extant cat species in Southeast Asia: the clouded leopard of mainland Asia, and the Sunda clouded leopard of Sumatra and Borneo.
The leopard cat is a small wild cat native to continental South, Southeast, and East Asia. Since 2002 it has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List as it is widely distributed although threatened by habitat loss and hunting in parts of its range.
The fishing cat is a medium-sized wild cat of South and Southeast Asia. It has a deep yellowish-grey fur with black lines and spots. Adults have a head-to-body length of 57 to 78 cm, with a 20 to 30 cm long tail. Males are larger than females weighing 8 to 17 kg ; females average 5 to 9 kg. Since 2016, it is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Fishing cat populations are threatened by destruction of wetlands and have declined severely over the last decade. The fishing cat lives foremost in the vicinity of wetlands, along rivers, streams, oxbow lakes, in swamps, and mangroves.
The flat-headed cat is a small wild cat with short reddish-brown fur. Its head is elongated, and its ears are rounded. Its slender body is 41 to 50 cm long with a tail of 13 to 15 cm, and it weighs 1.5 to 2.5 kg.
Visayans or Visayan people are a Philippine ethnolinguistic family group or metaethnicity native to the Visayas, the southernmost islands of Luzon and a significant portion of Mindanao. They are composed of numerous distinct ethnic groups, many unrelated to each other. When taken as a single group, they number around 33.5 million. The Visayans, like the Luzon Lowlanders were originally predominantly animist-polytheists and broadly share a maritime culture until the 16th century when Catholicism was introduced by the Spanish empire. In more inland or otherwise secluded areas, ancient animistic-polytheistic beliefs and traditions either were reinterpreted within a Roman Catholic framework or syncretized with the new religion. Visayans are generally speakers of one or more of the distinct Bisayan languages, the most widely spoken being Cebuano, followed by Hiligaynon (Ilonggo) and Waray-Waray.
Prionailurus is a genus of spotted, small wild cats native to Asia. Forests are their preferred habitat; they feed on small mammals, reptiles and birds, and occasionally aquatic wildlife.
The Sunda stink badger, also called the Javan stink badger, teledu, Malay stink badger, Malay badger, Indonesian stink badger and Sunda skunk, is a mammal native to Indonesia and Malaysia. Despite the common name, stink badgers are not closely related to true badgers, and are, instead, Old World relatives of the skunks. Coincidentally, its local name sigung in Sundanese is a false cognate to skunk which is of Algonquian origin.
The Pantherinae is a subfamily of the Felidae; it was named and first described by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1917 as only including the Panthera species. The Pantherinae genetically diverged from a common ancestor between 9.32 to 4.47 million years ago and 10.67 to 3.76 million years ago.
The Visayan spotted deer, also known as the Visayan deer, the Philippine spotted deer or Prince Alfred's deer, is a small, endangered, primarily nocturnal species of deer found in the rainforests of the Visayan Islands of Panay and Negros. It once was found across other islands, such as Cebu, Guimaras, Leyte, Masbate, and Samar. It is one of three endemic deer species found in the Philippines, although it was not recognized as a separate species until 1983. An estimated 2,500 mature individuals survived worldwide in 1996, according to the IUCN; today’s surviving wild number is uncertain. The diet of the deer, which consists of a variety of different types of grasses, leaves, and buds within the forest, is the primary indicator of its habitat. Since 1991, the range of the species has severely decreased and is now almost co-extensive with that of the Visayan warty pig.
The Visayan warty pig is a critically endangered species in the pig genus (Sus). It is endemic to six of the Visayan Islands in the central Philippines. It is known by many names in the region with most translating into 'wild pig': baboy ilahas, baboy talonon, baboy sulop, and baboy ramo.
The Sunda clouded leopard is a medium-sized wild cat native to Borneo and Sumatra. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 2015, as the total effective population probably consists of fewer than 10,000 mature individuals, with a decreasing population trend. On both Sunda Islands, it is threatened by deforestation. It was classified as a separate species, distinct from the clouded leopard in mainland Southeast Asia based on a study in 2006. Its fur is darker with a smaller cloud pattern.
The Bornean clouded leopard is a subspecies of the Sunda clouded leopard. It is native to the island of Borneo, and differs from the Batu-Sumatran clouded leopard in the shape and frequency of spots, as well as in cranio-mandibular and dental characters. In 2017, the Cat Classification Taskforce of the Cat Specialist Group recognized the validity of this subspecies.
The Philippine tube-nosed fruit bat locally known in Tagalog as Bayakan is a species of bat in the family Pteropodidae. It is endemic to the Philippines and known from the islands of Cebu, Negros and Sibuyan. It occurs in and near primary and secondary subtropical or tropical dry forests. It is often found near water. The species is named for Dioscoro S. Rabor who, with several others, first collected the species.
The Sumatran clouded leopard is a subspecies of the Sunda clouded leopard and is native to the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Batu. It differs in molecular, craniomandibular and dental characteristics from the Bornean clouded leopard. It was recognized as a valid subspecies in 2017.
The Sunda leopard cat is a small wild cat species native to the Sundaland islands of Java, Bali, Borneo, Sumatra and the Philippines that is considered distinct from the leopard cat occurring in mainland South and Southeast Asia.
Lawrence Richard Heaney is an American mammalogist, ecologist and biogeographer. His research focus is the mammals of the Philippines.
