Although the number of tiger subspecies in contemporary China still ranks first in the world, with a total of 4 species, namely the Siberian tiger, the South China tiger, the Bengal tiger and the Indochinese tiger, if you look at the number, it is not as good as russia, India and other tiger countries.
Most of China's wild tigers are distributed in a small part of the northeast, as well as the southwest border area, the largest number of wild individuals is the Siberian tiger, about 30 or so, limited by the small base, poor breeding ability of tigers and other reasons, in a short period of time can not grow rapidly, so most of the forests in China, there is no tiger.
tiger
<h1>The disappearance of the tiger</h1>
The large number of tigers in China disappeared, mainly concentrated between the 1950s and 1970s, before the 1950s, almost all the country's forests had tiger distribution, from south to north, from east to west, only some plains and open areas, as well as deserts and other areas that are not suitable for tigers to live.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the number of tigers in the country was relatively considerable, and in 1956 alone, the country received 1750 tiger skins; but in the 1970s, according to expert estimates, the number of wild tigers was only more than 100, of which the original largest number of South China tigers was only more than 20.
South China Tiger
The main reason for the disappearance of tigers can be attributed to two aspects, one is that human beings want to develop, a large number of pioneering land cultivation, resulting in a sharp reduction in the habitat of wild animals. Second, tigers with few habitat and no food had to focus on working people and livestock, so during this stage, tigers frequently broke out to hurt people and prey on livestock, so they were retaliated against by people.
Tigers were regarded as well-known "pests", and the number of tigers was drastically reduced by the time the state announced a ban on hunting in 1977. Of course, along with the tiger, there are also leopards and other beasts of prey.
<h1>A massive reduction in the golden leopard</h1>
The golden leopard is a general term for animals such as leopards in China, and the leopards in the country can be roughly divided into 4 subspecies, namely the North China leopard, the South China leopard, the Far Eastern leopard and the Indochinese leopard.
The disappearance of leopards is immediately after the tiger, they are the same type of predator, so the fate is about the same, but unlike the disappearance of tigers, tigers really disappeared from most of the country's forests, while leopards are still in the southwest hinterland, Taihang Mountains and other small numbers of rare dense forests still remain, in the later ecology is gradually restored, the number of leopards will also rise.
Leopard
Before the 1950s, although people often hunted the golden leopard, due to the primitive and small scale of hunting, it did not have any impact on the development of leopard populations.
In the 50s and 60s, the golden leopard ushered in the biggest crisis, due to the large-scale hunting of people, resulting in a sharp decline in leopard population, and in the next two decades, leopards in many places disappeared.
By the 1980s, according to an analysis of leopard skins collected nationwide, there were only a few hundred left. However, compared with the tiger, the golden leopard is relatively lucky, and its number has never been lower than three digits.
<h1>Leopard populations are increasing</h1>
Although leopards have disappeared in most of China's forests, they have never been extinct in the wild, and later with the country's vigorous protection, and people's awareness of animal protection, the survival of leopards has also ushered in a turnaround, have set up nature reserves in the leopard habitat, and now there are about 474 large and small national nature reserves in China, including leopard protection areas up to 95.
Thanks to the country's effectiveness in environmental construction and animal protection, leopards survive well in these protected areas, and their numbers are gradually increasing.
From 1995 to 2000, some domestic experts conducted a survey and assessment of the survival of mammals in the country, and concluded that most areas of the country are not suitable for the survival of the golden leopard, but by 2010, the golden leopard could be found in 19 provinces, and in the years to come, good news continued to come out.
According to the assessment of experts, it is found that the population of leopards in the country has shown a recovery trend, leopards in the southwest region are increasing, leopards in the Taihang Mountains are also increasing, and it is believed that as the ecology gradually becomes perfect, the number of leopards will further increase.
The increase in the number of leopards is an indisputable fact, and more importantly, with the restoration and improvement of ecological corridors, some areas that originally survived the golden leopard, but later became extinct, if the environment becomes suitable for leopards to survive again, then leopards in these areas may return again.
One of the functions of the ecological corridor is to facilitate the migration of species and the dispersal of juveniles, which is also the premise of the Cat Alliance's "Take the Leopard Home" project to reintroduce the North China leopard from Shanxi through the Taihang Mountains and other suburbs of Beijing.
<h1>It's hard to see a tiger in the wild</h1>
Seeing here, many people may have doubts, since there was before, and later extinct, but with the restoration of the ecological corridor, leopards may return, so is it possible for tigers to return?
In fact, the return of the leopard and the return of the tiger are two different concepts, the most direct difference is that the leopard has never disappeared in the forest, although the number is small, there are still some populations, as the environment is restored, the population can be restored.
The tigers in most of China's forests have really disappeared, even in qinling, Taihang mountain and other places where there are rare people, there is not a single tiger.
Siberian tiger
The tiger in the "can you still see tigers in the wild" that people ask generally refers to the South China tiger, after all, the Siberian tiger, the Bengal tiger, and the Indochinese tiger have wild individuals in China, and the South China tiger is really extinct in the wild, if you want to return to the wild, there is only one way, that is, wild release, but looking at the wild release work of the South China tiger, it can be described as a long way to go.
I think that the rewilding technology is not the most important reason, but the tiger itself, the reason why people hunted tigers in the beginning, is because the "human-tiger conflict" is serious, the tiger is a top beast, it will hurt people, from the perspective of some countries with tigers in contemporary times, the problem of "human-tiger conflict" has not been effectively solved, so the wild release of south China tigers has a long way ahead.
South China Tiger Hunting in the African Tiger Valley
<h1>The new king of the forest</h1>
"There is no tiger in the mountain, and the monkey is called the king", which is a well-known saying, but the reality is that there is no tiger in the mountain, and the leopard is called the king. As an alpha-level predator, the strength of the leopard is not low, although except for the Far Eastern leopard, most of the leopards in Our country are not very large, mostly concentrated in 50 kilograms, but there is no tiger, the leopard is naturally in the first place to inherit the "king of the forest".
In addition, the most critical point is that the leopard population is recovering, the habitat is expanding, and according to the infrared camera set up in the Taihang Mountain Macaque National Nature Reserve in Henan Province, the leopard territory in the area has been expanding since 2015.
The golden leopard of the Taihang Mountains
Although over the years, Sichuan, Shanxi and other places have constantly appeared news of leopards going down the mountain to hunt livestock, and people also attribute the reason for leopards going down the mountain to lack of wild prey, but in fact, this is not the case, the leopards in the southwest and the leopards in Shanxi are not short of prey, especially the leopards in the southwest, which can even be called "rich leopards", not only the habitat is large and coherent, but also the ungulate prey such as sheep, red deer, forest musk, wild boar, white-lipped deer and so on.
Although the number of leopards is recovering, but far from reaching the saturation of habitat capacity, I believe that in the future, their number will further increase, of course, the most worth looking forward to is that with the restoration of ecological corridors, some suitable for leopard survival of the forest, will also be reintroduced, when this new king of forests, continue to "recover the lost land", will return to the country with the attitude of a king, how many years do you think it will take?
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