Leopard spotted in NW China panda habitat
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E-mail Xinhua, March 21, 2012
A leopard has been photographed wandering a remote nature reserve in the Qinling mountain range of northwest China's Shaanxi province that is home to wild giant pandas.
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Infrared camera set up at Guanyinshan Nature Reserve has captured a few images of a leopard over last year. |
Infrared camera traps set up at Guanyinshan Nature Reserve in Foping county have filmed at least one adult leopard roaming in the mountains several times over the past year, a spokesman with the reserve's administrative committee said Wednesday.
Three very clear leopard photos were developed, the oldest of which was shot last May, he explained. "As the images were caught from different angles and at different distances, we cannot tell whether it was the same leopard."
The spokesman said the existence of the big cat was evidence of improved biodiversity in the Qinling mountain range.
The nature reserves in Foping county are known to have between 110 and 130 wild giant pandas.
Forestry workers in the reserve have set up 20 infrared cameras to monitor the endangered species and other wild animals. The workers check on these cameras once every three months, downloading photographs and replacing batteries.
Several thousand photographs have been taken over the past year.
The newly discovered carnivore in the reserve is not necessarily a threat to pandas, as the leopard population was apparently small and there were ample small animals they could prey on, according to Yong Yange, a panda expert based in Foping.
"It needs further protection efforts for the leopard to stay and reproduce in the reserve," he added.
Giant pandas were first spotted in the Qinling mountains in 1964, a century after the species was found in Sichuan. Scientists have found that Qinling and Sichuan pandas have evolved differently in recent decades.
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