Clouded leopard and Small felids

Some time back I was requested to share information for a workshop on Clouded Leopards and Small felids. The 2 landscapes of South Garo Hills (Meghalaya) and Saiha (Mizoram)  that I have been fortunate to have put in time have been in the rain-shadow of wildlife research and I thought it pertinent to share what little information we had. 

While we had collated local names of wildlife occuring in both these landscapes with help of colleagues and secondary literature we also had undertaken a 'questionnaire survey' at Meghalaya. This putting relevant information together for sharing for the workshop gave me an opportunity to relive some of the moments of the questionnaire survey as also feel glad at the collation of local names. At Meghalaya these were in Garo and / or Atong while at Mizoram these were in Mizo and / or Mara. 

Each time I come across such details (and this happens regularly) I wonder at the stupidity of the term 'north east India'; working in a few hundred sq. kms. in just 2 states when there is so much diversity, richness and goodness in people how can one even think of coining a single term for 8 states!

Take the space to share some of the details I then collated and sent across. 

Local Names.

Sr.	English	Mizoram	Meghalaya
1.	Clouded Leopard Neofelis nebulosa	Kelral	Matcha do.tok
2.	Marbled cat Pardofelis marmorata	Pawak	Matcha bloga
3.	Golden cat Catopuma. temminckii	Keisen	~
4.	Jungle cat Felis chaus	Sauak	Buijare
5.	Leopard cat Prionailurus bengalensis	Sanghar	Matcha helguk
6.	Fishing cat Prionailurus viverrinus	Keite chi khat	~

Responses (from the questionnaire at Meghalaya).

If / how they are in conflict with humans. 

Sr.	Mammal	Damage to Crops	Damage to Livestock
1.	Clouded Leopard	~	Yes
2.	Marbled cat	~	Yes
3.	Golden cat	~	~
4.	Jungle cat	~	Yes
5.	Leopard cat	Yes	Yes
6.	Fishing cat	~	Yes

If / how humans respond.

Sr	Methods	Leopard Cat	Marbled Cat	Jungle Cat.
1.	Catapult	Yes	Yes	Yes
2.	Shouting	Yes	~	Yes
3.	Domestic dogs	~	~	Yes
4.	Throwing stones	Yes	~	Yes
5.	Rope traps	~	~	Yes
6.	Metal traps	Yes	~	Yes
7.	Bamboo fencing	~	~	Yes
8.	Shooting with guns	Yes	~	Yes