With the permission and support of the Forestry and Grassland Bureau of the Tibet Autonomous Region and the forestry and grassland bureaus of Nyingchi City and Metuo County, the Veterinary Ecology and Evolution Discipline Group of the Kunming Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences recently captured wild Bengal tigers three times at two infrared camera sites placed in Metuo County, Tibet Autonomous Region, which is the first time that Chinese researchers have taken live photos of Bengal tigers in the wild.
Since October 2018, the project team has been carrying out the "Second Comprehensive Expedition to the Tibetan Plateau" and the "Pan-Third Quarter Environmental Change and Green Silk Road Construction Sub-project - High-throughput, Continuous Coverage Biodiversity Monitoring and Assessment in Key Areas" in southeast Tibet.
Metuo County is the last county in China to be connected to the highway, due to the restrictions of traffic conditions, most areas in the territory have a low degree of human interference, and the authenticity of the ecosystem is well preserved. In the mid-to-late 1990s, researchers estimated the distribution of 11 tigers in the area based on the number of livestock preyed upon by large predators around Nanga Bawa and the footprint chain of big cats on the survey line. In recent years, villagers have continuously reported that tiger footprints have been found in Metuo County, but there is no definite evidence that Bengal tigers are still living in the natural environment of southeastern Tibet in China.
In order to grasp the diversity and distribution of rare wild animals in metuo county, Dr. Li Xueyou, associate researcher of the veterinary ecology and evolution discipline group of the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, led a team to carry out mammal surveys in Metuo County in October and November 2018, and installed 48 infrared cameras on the altitude gradient of 1000 meters to 3400 meters.
The researchers conducted a preliminary analysis of the first batch of recovered camera data and found that Metuo County has an extremely rich and diverse range of rare and endangered wild animals, including 23 species of large and medium-sized mammals and 6 species of pheasants; of which 16 species are threatened species of the World Union for Nature (IUCN), 19 species are listed as threatened species by the Chinese Red List, of which 5 are listed as critically endangered species; in addition to the Bengal tiger, 14 rare and endangered carnivores such as clouded leopards, cloud cats, golden cats and jackals have also been recorded. The chamois is the most frequently recorded species in the region, with a total of 358 times, and its share (i.e., richness index) in the region is also as high as 0.53, implying that the large and medium-sized carnivores in the region have a rich prey resource, and also explaining why metuo County can host such a rich and diverse group of rare and endangered large and medium-sized carnivores in terms of food availability.
Tigers are the largest surviving cats in Asia, with a population divided into 6 subspecies: Bengal, Siberian, South China, Indochinese, Malay and Sumatran. The World Union for Nature (IUCN) estimates that the number of wild tigers is between 2154 and 3159, and the population is endangered.
Tigers are top predators and require a high degree of authenticity and continuity of ecosystems. The infrared camera photos of wild Bengal tigers obtained in this survey are direct evidence of the distribution of Bengal tigers in the wild environment in China, indicating that the current ecological environment of Metuo County can carry the survival and reproduction of wild Bengal tiger populations.
However, it should not be overlooked that the Current Bengal Tiger and its rare and endangered wild animals distributed in the same region still face the threat of habitat fragmentation or loss caused by the rapid growth of the population around the habitat and the increased impact of human activities caused by relocation.
To this end, the project team suggests that: take the discovery of the Bengal tiger as an opportunity, increase the investigation and monitoring of the wild Bengal tiger population in the Brahmaputra Grand Canyon National Nature Reserve, use infrared cameras to carry out the distribution range and population number, food availability, potential threat factors and habitat quality analysis of the Bengal tiger in the region, carry out community protection publicity and education, and encourage and promote the active participation of the surrounding communities in wildlife protection and monitoring.
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<h4>Bengal tigers</h4>
it is the nominate subspecies of the tiger, also known as the Indian tiger. Wild male Bengal tigers weigh 160-270 kg and are second only to Siberian tigers in size. The fur of adult Bengal tigers is brown and white with black stripes. There are also a small number of Bengal white tigers with black stripes on a white background, because of genetic mutations. The body is large, the body is uniform, the limbs are medium-long, and the toes are linear. The head is large and round, the snout is short, and the sense of sight, hearing, and smell is very developed. The canine teeth and split teeth are extremely developed; the upper split teeth have three tooth tips, and the lower split teeth have two tooth tips; the molars are more degenerate, and the diameter of the crown is smaller than the height of the lateral incisors. The fur is soft and often has a pronounced pattern. The forefoot has 5 toes and the hind feet have 4 toes; the claws are sharp and retractable. Tail developed. Love to live alone. Meat-eating, often ambushing and killing other warm-blooded animals.
The habitat range is wide, including himalayan coniferous forests in alpine regions, swampy reeds, dry mountains on the Indian peninsula, lush rainforests and dry broad-leaved forests in northern India, and mangrove forests along the coast of the South Asian subcontinent. They are often alone and only live together during the breeding season. There is no fixed nest, and most of them wander between mountains and forests in search of food. Can swim, not good at climbing trees.
It is the most abundant and widely distributed tiger subspecies in the world. In 1758, the Bengal tiger was identified by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus as a model species of tiger. The Bengal tiger is mainly distributed in India and Bangladesh and is a rare animal in these two countries. There are a small number of cross-border distributions in Tibet, China.
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