There are four subspecies of tigers in China, namely South China Tiger, Northeast Tiger, Bengal Tiger and Indian zhina Tiger. In history, our country is? Tiger country? , not only has the most subspecies (one more than today: Xinjiang tiger), but also has the most tiger individuals in the world.
South China tiger
The birthplace of the tiger is in East Asia, where the South China Tiger lives. Can be traced back to 3 million years ago. At that time, there lived a carnivore named China Gumao on the earth. Now it is internationally recognized as the ancestor of modern tigers.
After the appearance of modern tigers, because there are no super-large beasts on the earth, they developed rapidly, spread several times, and finally reached most parts of Asia and even landed on some islands in Southeast Asia.
In 2005, scientists verified that the South China Tiger is the oldest of modern tigers through DNA technology, and indirectly confirmed the hypothesis that tigers originated in East Asia. China used to be? Tiger country? Unfortunately, there are less than 100 tigers in the wild now.
Siberian tiger
The historical existence of tigers in China is very important to China, not only in ecological function, but also in culture. In the 5,000-year history of China, the pen and ink about the tiger is very thick, and its image occupies a very prominent position in the historical development of China, even comparable to that of the dragon.
As early as in Zhouyi? Dragon gives birth to clouds, tiger gives birth to wind? Statement. In addition, there is a tiger in the zodiac, which is a symbol of strength and courage. Many words have been born all the time, such as Dragon and Tiger Leap, Hidden Dragon and Crouching Tiger, and so on.
Modern tigers originated in Asia and are only distributed in Asia. They tried their best to reach the eastern part of Asia Minor Peninsula, but failed to enter Europe and Africa due to natural barriers such as snow-capped mountains and rivers. Historically, the main habitat of tigers was China.
Before the 20th century, tigers were distributed in most parts of China, except for plateau, plain and desert areas, which were not suitable for tigers. According to some old people in the village, they often heard tigers whistling when they were young.
By the 1950s, due to the development of the human world and other factors, the habitat of tigers in China had shrunk by more than half.
Historical distribution map of tigers in China
Historically, the South China tiger has the widest habitat and the largest number. Although it is endemic to South China by name, it is widely distributed, not only in South China, but also in parts of Central China, North China, East China, Southwest China and even Southwest Shanxi. In addition, it is unique to China, so it is also available internationally. Chinese tiger? Known as.
The Siberian tiger was originally a tiger species unique to China, but it was no longer a tiger subspecies unique to China after the Qing Dynasty ceded most of Manchuria to Russia in 1858. Although its distribution in China is not as good as that of South China Tiger, it is also very widespread. From Inner Mongolia and northeastern Hebei to Linhai Xueyuan covering the whole three northeastern provinces, we can see the traces of his life.
Xinjiang Tiger refers to Li Haihu who lives in China, and its historical distribution is mainly concentrated around the core desert of Junggar Basin and Tarim Basin, that is, north and south of Tianshan Mountain. Because of the perennial drought and insufficient rainfall here, the Xinjiang tiger is also called? The most drought-tolerant tiger? .
Although there are Bengal tigers and Indosinian tigers in China, they are not widely distributed in history, only in the southwest border areas, and the number is not much. In 1950s, there were only 60-80 Bengal tigers and Indochina tigers in China.
Five kinds of tigers in China
Among all the subspecies of modern tigers, the South China tiger is smaller, with the average weight of male tiger being 1.50kg and female tiger being1.20kg.. Its head is round and its stripes are short and narrow, but the spacing between stripes is wider and the overall color is more orange.
It goes without saying that the status of South China Tiger in China is natural. In history, most tigers in the forests of China were South China tigers. They often haunt areas with dense vegetation such as ridges and bushes, and feed on large ungulates such as wild boar, antelope and deer. Later, due to the development of human agriculture and animal husbandry, the proportion of livestock in the diet composition of South China tigers gradually increased. Is this the future? Man-tiger conflict? Fuse.
Before the 20th century, a large number of South China tigers lived in China, although tigers were regarded as a threat to human beings and livestock in ancient times? Pests? However, due to primitive hunting tools, small population and large tiger base, it did not have much impact on the population development of South China tigers.
Since the 1950s, due to the rapid development of population, more and more natural resources have been absorbed, which further reduced the living space of tigers, making tigers who were originally afraid of people have to intensify their efforts to prey on livestock in order to survive, leading to the intensification of the contradiction between humans and tigers.
South China tiger
The period when a large number of South China tigers disappeared was the 1950s and 1970s. Judging from the number of 1750 tiger skins collected in China in 1956, it was found that the number of South China tigers at that time was much less than that in history, but it was also considerable, and it was conservatively estimated that there were more than 4,000 tigers in China. In the 1970s, the number of tigers in South China declined seriously, and the national estimate was less than 100. Even less after 80, optimistic estimate is 30-80. By the 1990s, the South China Tiger had disappeared in many parts of the country, with only a few distributed at the junction of Jiangxi, Guangdong, Fujian and Hunan. Experts estimated that the number of wild South China tigers was about 20-30 according to the traces of tiger feces and footprints at that time. After entering the 2 1 century, the wild South China tiger has been hard to find, and finally people announced that the South China tiger has entered a state of wild extinction. South China tiger
Many people think that this is the reason for the extinction of the South China Tiger. Actually, extinction in the wild and extinction are two different concepts. The former can be simply understood as that there are no wild individuals, but there are still in the artificial breeding environment.
The latter is really extinct, that is, there is no such species in the wild environment or in the artificial breeding environment, and when it comes to this endangered species, it can never be recovered, such as marsupials and china rhino. Why did the South China Tiger disappear so quickly? The main reason is that humans regard it as? Pests? Kill them.
What was the 1950s and 1960s? Man-tiger conflict? Perhaps the most intense stage can be seen from some hearsay stories, such as those that are widely circulated and have strong myths? Baihuwei village? , tells the story of a small village at the southern foot of Xuefeng Mountain in Hunan, which was besieged by hundreds of tigers at 1957.
Although the story is false, but at that time? Tiger disaster? It's true. For example, in Leiyang County, Hunan Province alone, 1952, hundreds of people died in the jaws of tigers, and countless livestock were taken away or killed by tigers.
When talking about the ancient and modern living conditions of the Northeast Tiger in China, it has to be mentioned together with the living conditions of the Northeast Tiger in Russia, because its habitats in the two countries are close to each other and its wildlife has no national boundaries. Before the first half of the 20th century, there were far more Siberian tigers in China than in Russia, but after that, the situation was reversed.
/kloc-At the end of 0/9, the number of wild Siberian tigers in Russia was 800, while that in China was 2,000. Subsequently, about 150 tigers are legally killed by humans in Russia every year. This situation didn't improve until the early 20th century, but at that time, 50 Siberian tigers were still killed every year.
Siberian tiger
At that time, the phenomenon of killing Siberian tigers in Russia was crazy. Not only poaching and poaching are serious, but even some soldiers are involved? Fighting tigers? During the operation, the reason was that during the period from the end of 19 to the first half of the 20th century, there were a lot of infrastructures to be built in Russia, which seriously affected the survival activities of the Northeast Tiger. As a result, the conflict between man and tiger is inevitable, and the tiger that hurts people and eats livestock is finally killed.
Because the Russian Siberian tiger habitat is connected with China, most of them fled to China except the hunted individuals. By 1930s, there were only 20-30 tigers in Russia.
Russian soldiers kill Siberian tigers.
After entering the second half of the 20th century, China's attitude towards tigers was similar to that of Russia before. As a kind of tiger, the Northeast Tiger was not the main target at that time (the South China Tiger was), but it was not spared.
A large number of Siberian tigers, pursued by long guns and short guns, began to flee to Russia, which was a great supplement to Russia. Therefore, in the 1950s and 1970s, the number of tigers in Russia increased very rapidly. By the beginning of the 20th century, the number of Siberian tigers in Russia had recovered to 500, and the number of Siberian tigers in China had dropped to the lowest level in history, with only two digits.
Russia realized the importance of tigers in 1947 and began to protect them vigorously. However, it was not until 1977 that the hunting of Siberian tigers was completely banned in China, but at this time there were still many poaching and poaching phenomena, which made it even worse for the rare Siberian tigers. Fortunately, with the improvement of laws and regulations, the awareness of protection has gradually penetrated the hearts of the people, and poaching has been controlled.
However, it is very difficult to restore the tiger population because of the previous wanton killing and the destruction of the ecological environment. Last year, on World Tiger Day, some experts and scholars announced that the number of wild Siberian tigers in China was 27, which was really unpleasant, but the good news was that the number of Siberian tigers in China was on the rise.
Siberian tiger
Compared with South China Tiger and Northeast Tiger, Xinjiang Tiger is less well-known. It is not endemic to China, but Li Haihu who lives in Xinjiang.
Due to the harsh natural environment in Xinjiang, the terrain is mostly desert basins or mountains, which is doomed that the distribution range of Xinjiang tigers will not be too wide and the habitat will be seriously dispersed. Actually, it's true. Simply put, they are mainly distributed in desert oases, thus clarifying the distribution law of Xinjiang water system and basically clarifying the distribution of Xinjiang tigers.
Historical distribution map of Xinjiang tiger
Xinjiang tigers are mainly distributed in the north and south sides of Tianshan Mountain, and their main habitats are rivers and lakes in the south of Junggar Basin, as well as Tarim River Basin and its branch basins.
Due to environmental reasons, compared with other tigers, Xinjiang tigers are lighter in color and closer to the color of sand, but unfortunately they died out faster and earlier, so there are no photos of Xinjiang tigers in history. The only intuitive information that can be found is Swedish explorer Sven? The painting Harding painted.
Sven? Xinjiang Tiger in He Ding's Works
The disappearance of Xinjiang tigers can be said to be very rapid, especially during the period of 1899- 196 1, the number of Xinjiang tigers declined most seriously.
1877, when Russian explorer Poole Gewar-Ski explored Xinjiang, he found that tigers often appeared around Lop Nur. But when he came to Xinjiang again on 1885, he found that although the number of tigers was still large, it had decreased a lot compared with before, especially in northern Xinjiang, where the density of tigers was significantly lower than that in southern Xinjiang.
To 1900, Sven? By the time He Ding arrived, the number of Xinjiang tigers in the whole Tarim region was already relatively small.
In the 1920s, tigers disappeared in the Tarim Basin. In the 1960s, there was no trace of tigers in Xinjiang. People have different views on the disappearance of tigers in Xinjiang. Some say that ants ate tiger cubs, while others say that humans kill them wantonly. In fact, in the final analysis, the main reason is the sudden change of ecological environment.
For example, in 192 1 year, a northward tributary of the Tarim River rapidly grew into a vast river under the action of rain erosion and quicksand accumulation, which directly led to the diversion of the Tarim River northward, so that the downstream of the river was seriously short of water, the lake dried up, the oasis vegetation withered, and many creatures living in it were naturally not spared.
Xinjiang tiger is one of the most drought-tolerant tigers, but its life can not be separated from water, not to mention that tigers like to swim in the river when the weather is hot, and they need to drink a lot of water just after eating. However, due to the diversion of rivers, lakes dried up and a large number of wild animals died. Xinjiang tigers not only die directly, but also starve to death for lack of prey.
The disappearance of Xinjiang tiger is the loss of China's animal resources, the loss of species diversity in the world, and has a great impact on Xinjiang's ecosystem and even the future. Wolf disaster? Hidden dangers buried.
Livestock killed by the wolf disaster
Bengal tiger and Indosinian tiger Bengal tiger is a kind of slender tiger with clear stripes, which is the largest and most widely distributed tiger species in the world at present. Its main habitats are India, Nepal, Bangladesh and other countries. Although a small number of Bengal tigers are distributed in China, they are only distributed in the southwest border in ancient times and contemporary times, and the number is not much.
For example, in 1950s, there were about 4,500 wild Bengal tigers in Asia, while there were only 30-40 in China, which was not the mainstream tiger species in China.
Bengal tiger
Although the Indo-Chinese tiger looks like a tiger living in India by name, it has nothing to do with India. Mainly distributed in Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, there are no wild Indo-Chinese tigers in India (in fact, there is only one Bengal tiger in India).
The distribution of Indo-Chinese tiger in China is limited to Yunan province, and it is near the border. Although Indosinian tigers have been found on the border between Guangxi and Yunnan in history, the number is very small and almost negligible.
Indosinian tiger
Distribution of Tigers in China Today, the number of wild tigers in China is very rare, and the distribution range is limited to a small part of the northeast corner and southwest border, while the original large-scale distribution areas such as South China Tiger and Xinjiang Tiger have long since disappeared.
At present, the awareness of environmental protection is deeply rooted in people's hearts, and poaching and poaching are rare, so people are also vigorously protecting them, so the biggest threat to tigers now comes from themselves.
Because of the small base, inbreeding is an inevitable phenomenon, and the harm of inbreeding is quite serious, which will not only increase the risk of various genetic diseases, but also reduce genetic diversity. Once the environment changes greatly in the future, the extinction of the whole species is possible.
At present, the largest number of wild individuals in China is the Northeast Tiger, and the authoritative data is last year? World Tiger Day? Twenty-seven were published, which is a very conservative figure. If you count the number of homeless people in China and Russia, what is it? Tiger? If there are, it can reach about 40, but compared with the number of more than 700 in Russia, it is still too small.
As mentioned above, the Northeast Tiger made two large-scale migrations, namely, from Russia to China and from China to Russia. Now, the Northeast Tiger is experiencing its third migration: from Russian to China.
Siberian tiger
This is a predictable phenomenon. After all, since 1977, China has been vigorously protecting the Siberian tiger and its wild environment. With the establishment of the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park, it has made landmark progress. Compared with the cold hinterland of Siberia, the snowy forest in the northeast is their hometown, which is more suitable for the survival of Siberian tigers.
At present, the number of Siberian tigers in Primorsky Krai of Russia is close to saturation. With the gradual improvement of China's ecology, they are bound to be attracted. Last year, a Russian female Siberian tiger came to live in China with three cubs, which is a good evidence.
The arrival of female tigers is more meaningful than that of male tigers, because their mobility is not as high as that of male tigers, and they tend to settle beside their mothers, while female tigers with cubs have higher requirements for prey richness and environment, which indirectly proves the achievements made in the ecological protection of Northeast tigers in China.
Siberian tiger mother and son from afar
South China tigers are extinct in the wild, which means that it is impossible to see them again in the wild unless there is a miracle. By the end of 20 10, there were 16 zoos in China, among which Shanghai had the largest number.
The artificial reproduction of the South China tiger was first carried out in 1963, and the only remaining wild individuals were captured and then artificially bred. Therefore, all the South China tigers, although a large number, are distributed in zoos all over the country, but they are all descendants of the original tigers.
With regard to the protection of South China tigers, people are actively trying to be wild in addition to artificial breeding. However, because its historical habitat is no longer suitable for the survival of large carnivores, the field work of South China Tiger is very difficult and complicated. At present, it is one of the most effective means to protect the South China tiger by combing its breeding vein and establishing its pedigree.
Simply put, it is scattered in zoos all over the country, but the number of South China tigers in each zoo is very small. If they breed independently for their own camp, it will inevitably aggravate the phenomenon of inbreeding. But to sort out the genetic relationship of each South China tiger and establish a genealogy. Intermarriage? Undoubtedly, inbreeding can be avoided to the maximum extent.
South China tiger
For our country, Bengal tiger and Indo-Chinese tiger are not widely distributed in ancient and modern times, only a few of them are distributed in Tibet, Yunnan and other borders, and the number is also in jeopardy.
Although these two kinds of tigers were also killed in the tiger hunting craze in 1950s and 1960s, they are mostly sparsely populated wilderness. As long as the local ecology is not seriously damaged and the wild cephalopods are not extinct, there will always be a small number of individuals from abroad, which is one of the reasons why these two kinds of tigers have been the least in China, but they have not been extinct.