ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)

[peter]

PANTHERA TIGRIS AMOYENSIS - J


J1 - Zhenping County in Shaanxi Province

In post 1,175, a paper written by Li-Yuan Liu was discussed. Liu, if you remember, concluded that the photograph taken on October 2007 was a fake. But he also concluded that the Daba Mountains had tigers in 2009-2010. Wild South China tigers.

A few years before his paper was published (in 2006), a team of 30 zoologists headed by Prof. Liu Shifeng had studied a number of regions suited for tigers in Shaanxi Province. It was quite an undertaking. Although they didn't actually see tigers themselves, they talked to people who had. 

This was not a surprise for those who knew more about the South China tiger. In a report of the Shaanxi Provincial Forestry Administration, officials said that wild tigers had been spotted 17 times in Zhenping County.

Where is Zhenping County?

We'll start with a map of China.

Shaanxi Province (red) is situated in the centre of China. Notice the difference between this map and the other I posted in a previous post. Chongqing Province (east of Sechuan, west of Hubei and northwest of Hunan) was added. I don't know why it was, but I do know that Chongqing is an enormous conurbation in the centre of China. It has grown rapidly in the last decades. It could be that the Chinese government decided to upgrade the status of Chongqing:

*This image is copyright of its original author

This is a more detailed map of Shaanxi province. Zhenping County is in the extreme south. The scale used (bottom left) obviously is incorrect:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Here's a topographical map of Shaanxi Province:

*This image is copyright of its original author

One more showing valleys and elevated regions:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Zhenping County is located in the elevated southern tip of Shaanxi province. Very close to the eastern tip of Sechuan Province, the northern tip of Chongqing and the western tip of Hubei Province. 


J2 - What did Li-Yuan Liu really see in the Daba Mountains?

In the article discussed in post 1,175, Liu wrote that the photograph of a wild South China tiger published in 2008 was a fake. He also concluded that there were wild tigers in the Daba Mountains in 2009-2010. 

It was this last remark that interested me. When searching for more, I found another article written by Li-Yuan Liu about tigers in the Daba Mountains:

'Evidence of the existence of the wild tiger Panthera tigris amoyensis (Hilzheimer, 1905) in South China (Mammalia, Felidae)'. The article was published in 'Biodiversity Journal', 2011, 2 (4): 171-178 

Here's the link to the article:

http://www.biodiversityjournal.com/pdf/2(4)_171-178.pdf

In order to prevent a number of questions:

Yes, it's the same Li-Yuan Liu who published a paper about the authenticity of a photograph of a wild South China tiger published on the internet in 2007-2008.

No, the article mentioned above is different from the paper discussed in post 1,175.

As to the title of this paragraph (what did Liu really see in the Daba Mountains?).

In the new article published in 2011, Liu continues on the photograph taken in October 2007. The photograph that was published on the internet, most probably, was a fake. But the other photographs (taken by hunter Zhou) he saw, in his opinion, were not.   

He didn't publish the set of photographs taken by Zhou, but his article has a number of photographs taken by Qian Li in the Daba Mountains. The photograhs are very interesting. 

Liu adjusted the number of tigers in the Daba Mountains from 6-8 to 8 and presented (second-hand) evidence of sightings in the Daba Mountains. Based on what he wrote, I concluded that locals knew there were tigers in the Daba Mountains for quite some time. Every now and then they lost a domestic animal, but it didn't amount to much.   

In his article, Liu wrote that tigers had been seen in December 2010 and in March, May and June of 2011! In June 2011, an exploratory team found many footprints left by big wild cats.


J3 - The situation in the Daba Mountains today
 
Although those who visited the Daba Mountains agree there are tigers, the cats are not protected. In the last 3 years, 2 tigers have allegedly been killed by knots of steel wire. Liu hopes his article will contribute to establishing a national conservation program in order to save the Daba Mountains tigers. 

I fear his intention met with little response. His report was published 6 years ago, in 2011. South China tigers have been seen in June 2011.

So far, I haven't seen a follow-up on Liu's great article. This most probably means the Daba Mountains tigers are on their own.

For a poacher, a wild South China tiger is a potential gold mine. For a Daba Mountains tiger, 6 years without protection in a region now no longer hidden is a very long time. Reply