First Discovery! Snow Leopards and Golden Leopards Coexist in Three Gorges Area
This year, the Three Gorges National Park and Qilian Mountain National Park will officially be established. These two national parks and the surrounding areas are among the regions with the densest distribution of rare wild animals in China and the world. To further understand the distribution of these wild animals, a professional survey team has set up over 700 infrared cameras from November last year to mid-January this year, investigating nearly 100 villages.
The data was collected from different monitoring points and sorted, and the survey personnel found that in the same monitoring point, snow leopards and golden leopards appeared successively. This was the first time that snow leopards and golden leopards were confirmed to be coexisting in the Three Gorges area.
This monitoring point is located in Ansai Township, Yushu County, Qinghai Province, Yeardu Village. From the footage, we can clearly see a snow leopard walking through, and to assert its territory, this snow leopard pounced on several rocks, leaving its markings. In the evening, this adorable snow leopard, apparently afraid of other animals not recognizing its mark, ran back and used its traditional marking method – digging pits to mark its territory. However, it didn't realize that within two days, a leopard bigger than it – the golden leopard, arrived. Not only at this monitoring point, but also at other monitoring points, the images of the snow leopard passing by were captured before the golden leopard appeared.
Snow leopards and golden leopards are both first-level national protected animals. Snow leopards are often active above the snow line and are also known as 'kings of the snow mountains', while golden leopards are flagship species of forest ecosystem. According to survey personnel, these two species, which were originally living in different regions and different ecosystems, appearing in the same location was the first time.
Animal monitoring leader Li Peiyun: 'They appeared in Ansai Township on the same camera, which is equivalent to their activity range overlapping. In our view, this is a very interesting phenomenon. This is a key issue for our future research on the impact of climate change, the habitat of snow leopards and golden leopards, and the interspecies relationship between these two species after they meet.'
The coexistence of snow leopards and golden leopards in Ansai Township is a matter of joy and concern
Experts say that snow leopards and golden leopards both belong to the top of the food chain, a healthy snow leopard's survival requires at least three to four hundred wild sheep, and supporting three to four hundred wild sheep requires at least one hundred square kilometers of grassland. The larger golden leopard needs more food and grassland.
Professor Lu Zhi of the Beijing University Mountain Nature Conservation Center: 'Only if these things are healthy can a snow leopard's healthy survival be maintained. Such a system is what we are more concerned about. Therefore, the snow leopard indicates that this system is healthy, which can maintain sustainable development, which reflects the fact that our food resources are relatively abundant, and the population growth of hoofed animals is increasing, which ensures that there is more and more food supply for snow leopards.'
Experts say that the fact that snow leopards and golden leopards can appear together in the Three Gorges National Park area proves that the ecosystem in the Three Gorges area is very healthy, and also shows that the ecology of the Three Gorges area has been well restored in recent years. Because both snow leopards and golden leopards have very beautiful fur, in the past, they were over-hunted and hunted, which caused these two species to be on the verge of extinction. Now that they appear together in the Three Gorges area, it also reflects the effectiveness of local protection work.
Column editor Qin Hong, Text editor Yang Rong, Picture source: Xinhua News Agency Illustration, Picture editing: Item Jianying
