Presenter speaks to leopard - Ingenious Animals: Episode 2 Preview - BBC

Named for its blotchy grey and black cloud-like markings, scientists have discovered that the clouded leopard is the evolutionary link between small cats like the lynx and the big cat family. They are supreme killing machines with the longest canines in proportion to skull size of any carnivore. But luckily they don't seem to see me as a threat. Clouded leopards make this extraordinary noise in exactly the same way as what a tiger does. It's called a chuff or a prustan and it's their way of greeting and showing affection. My tigers chuff to me as a greeting or when they need reassurance. I often chuff back but let's see if I can chuff in clouded leopard. Hello. They seem to like my chuffing because this head licking is also a sign Just when you pat them you can feel just how immensely strong they are and really these guys are perfectly adapted for a life in the trees. Clouded leopards have one of the longest tails in the cat family giving them exceptional balance. Short strong legs mean that they have a low center of gravity and their broad powerful paws are perfectly suited to climbing. You can see just how comfortable she is in the trees and in fact one of the things that allows her to do that are these incredible back paws and in fact clouded leopards are one of the only cats that can rotate these back paws around which allows them to come face first down the trunk of a tree. They're tailor-made for the rainforest but that forest has all but disappeared. If we can't breathe them in captivity there's a real danger we'll lose this majestic species forever.