The specialisation is in the hind limb. The clouded leopard has short legs, large paws and ankle joints that rotate to a degree unusual among cats, allowing the hind foot to face rearward. Combined with a tail nearly as long as the body, that permits headfirst descent, suspension beneath horizontal branches, and secure movement on vertical trunks. Only a few other carnivorans, notably the margay, have comparable ankle mobility.
The skull is equally distinctive. Upper canines are proportionally longer than in any other living cat relative to skull length, and the gape is unusually wide, features that have drawn repeated but speculative comparison with extinct sabre-toothed cats.
The animal is often described as strictly arboreal. Camera trapping and the limited telemetry available suggest otherwise: much hunting and travel happens on the ground, and the tree skills are best read as a capability rather than a lifestyle. The Sunda clouded leopard of Borneo and Sumatra was recognised as a separate species in 2006.