Couple Leopards and Mother-Cub Leopards Appear Frequently in Taihang Mountains
CCTV News:Recently, the Linyi Forest Park of Zhengzhou's Pilot Area for City-Rural Integration released the biodiversity monitoring results of Taihang Mountain National Nature Reserve. During the period from late December 2019 to February 2020, infrared cameras photographed wild Pallas's Leopards 42 times, with a 'high appearance rate'.
These appearing Pallas's Leopards were majestic, either roaming through the forest or pacing freely on their territory.
Staff members introduced that since the Forest Park started wild animal infrared camera monitoring in January 2015, the 'appearance rate' of Pallas's Leopards has been continuously rising, and the number has increased year by year, which shows that the distribution range of Pallas's Leopards in the Zhengzhou Taihang Mountains is recovering significantly. Currently, staff members have identified no less than 6 individual Pallas's Leopards through the images, and they have also photographed 'couple leopards' and 'mother-cub leopards', which indicates that the Pallas's Leopard population structure is reasonable.
The responsible person of the Huanglian Tree Forest District of Zhengzhou Yugong Forest Farm, Zhang Guo, said:It is clearly visible in the monitoring videos that Pallas's Leopards are frequently active in the mountains, running east and west, and jumping up and down. Their activity is very good. In addition, their fur is very beautiful, which indicates that their food is abundant and their condition is very good. In other monitoring videos, they also discovered musk deer, yellow throat martens, and wild boars, and some appeared in groups. This shows that a complete food chain population has formed in our mountains.
According to reports, Pallas's Leopards were once widely distributed in the regions of Henan and Hebei in North China, but due to the destruction of their habitats, they have disappeared in many regions. In the future, Zhengzhou will increase the intensity of wildlife management to ensure that Pallas's Leopards can healthily develop and thrive in Taihang Mountain.
The responsible person of the Huanglian Tree Forest District of Zhengzhou Yugong Forest Farm, Zhang Guo:The appearance of Pallas's Leopards in multiple sampling areas of Zhengzhou represents a close connection between the Pallas's Leopard population in Zhengzhou and the Pallas's Leopard population in other regions of Taihang Mountain, and their continuous expansion indicates that the Pallas's Leopard population is constantly recovering and developing healthily.
