In the dead of night, the dogs in the village suddenly barked wildly, and some dogs made a "crying" like a cry as if they were frightened.
For those who have lived in the countryside, they probably know that either a stranger from the village or some threatening animal visits the village.
A few days ago, Ms. Jiang, who lives in Hupu Town, Zhuji City, Zhejiang Province, had a similar experience, and she also contacted the media to expose the matter.
Photo caption: Photo of footprint provided by Ms. Jiang, source 91.8
According to her own recollections, at about 8 p.m., the village dog suddenly boiled over, and her dog barked, while the neighbor's dog barked like a cry.
The next day, Ms. Jiang's mother found several huge animal footprints in her family's vegetable patch, which, according to Ms. Jiang, were at least the size of an adult's palm.
The size of these footprints exceeds the limit of what a dog can step on in the village, so the villagers suspect that some ferocious animal has entered the village!
Note: Ms. Jiang's plea for help blog posted, they suspected it was a tiger
Some elderly people think that this is the footprint of a tiger, and after Ms. Jiang compared it online, she found that this footprint is really very similar to that of a tiger, so they contacted the media to seek help from animal experts.
There used to be tigers in Zhejiang, the famous South China tiger, but as we all know, the South China tigers are now in zoos, and they have disappeared in the wild for at least 20 years.
So, do these footprints mean that the South China tiger has reappeared?
Note: South China Tiger
The footprints of animals are exposing their identities
The footprints of different animals do vary significantly, and experienced hunters can clearly know what animals are wandering in the area with just a few footprints.
From the photos provided by Ms. Jiang, it is not difficult to find that this is a relatively large mammal, and in addition to tigers, large mammals that may appear in Zhejiang include black bears, wolves, golden leopards, clouded leopards, of course, wild boars, South China sika deer, etc. Smaller may also have jackals and roe deer.
Everyone guessed whether it was a wild boar or a tiger, source 91.8
Therefore, many netizens boldly imagine who the owner of these footprints is, of which the wild boar's voice is the highest, and it is estimated that the wild boar is really going to flood everywhere.
Image source 91.8
However, wild boars can be excluded first because they are ungulates, whether they are odd-hoofed or even-hoofed, and their paws are hooves rather than meat pads, and the recognition is very high.
Photo note: South China sika deer
In fact, the possibility of wild South China sika deer appearing in the Zhuji Belt is also quite high, and their size is not small, but it is also a ungulate.
This footprint is also quite similar to the black bear's, but it is basically impossible to be a black bear!
Now the only places where black bears may appear in Zhejiang are Quzhou and Lishui, of course, it is not ruled out that a lost black bear crosses more than one or two hundred kilometers to reach Zhuji, after all, the environment throughout China is getting better now, and the bear also wants to develop territory.
Illustration: A- Footprints of the Bear's Front Paws, B- Footprints of the Rear Grip
However, there is a clear difference between the front and back paws of black bears, and if they step on the footprints, the recognition is also very high.
Excluding these animals, only big cats and canines remain, and they are most likely to leave a plum-shaped footprint from this meat pad.
Note: Bear's footprints
Is it really the South China Tiger?
It is understood that the footprints in Ms. Jiang's vegetable field are indeed very large, almost 10 centimeters wide, but they are still smaller than bear paws.
Similarly, although the size of the South China tiger is not large, a footprint of the adult South China tiger is more than 20 centimeters wide at the beginning, so it is impossible to be the footprint of the adult South China tiger.
The soles of the tiger's feet are very large
Could it be a little tiger?
In fact, it is impossible!
The footprints provided by Ms. Jiang have pointed claw marks, and all the paws of cats are put away, so the footprints of the felines are only traces of meat pads, so that the bare claws can only be canines.
Illustration: The difference between feline and canine footprints
In addition, the area of the meat pad in the palm of the cat is very large, while the five meat pads of the canine are not so obvious, so this footprint should be canine, and the golden leopard and the clouded leopard can also be excluded.
If it is a canine, the only one that meets the conditions may be a large wild dog, and Mr. Liu, an expert on the animal of Hangzhou Gangxia, also speculates that this may be the footprint of a wild dog, but I personally think it is likely to be a wolf.
Finally: it could be a Chinese wolf
Many people know that there may be wild wolves in northern China, but there are wolves in Zhejiang, at least there were once to be wolves, but now they are as uncertain as the South China tigers whether they still exist in the wild.
Chinese wolves are called Chinese wolves, is a subspecies of gray wolves, our current dogs are domesticated by gray wolves, so the blood relationship between Chinese wolves and dogs is relatively close, there is no reproductive isolation between them, due to the existence of stray dogs, now the genes of Chinese wolves are very polluted.
In Zhejiang, Chinese wolves are mainly distributed in the Tianmu Mountain area, not far from Zhuji, in addition, before Yiwu netizens said that they encountered wolves in Yiwu Mountain, Yiwu and Zhuji are bordered, so the appearance of wolves in Zhuji is not particularly unexpected.
In addition, the size of the Chinese wolf is also relatively large, the body length can reach 1-1.2 meters, the weight is between 35-45 kg, this is not a live "giant dog", leaving some footprints of more than 10 centimeters in the reasonable.
Although wolves mostly like to act in groups, there are not a few who act alone, so I personally feel that the probability of being a wolf is quite high.
Image source: 91.8
So, who do you think the owner of this footprint will be?