The good news is here again! In recent times, large carnivores such as the Siberian tiger and the North China leopard (also known as the Chinese leopard and the Taihang leopard) have attracted people's attention. We all know that large carnivores such as jackals, tigers and leopards are the top predators in an ecosystem, and are now also the key protected wild animals in China, and their appearance shows that China's ecological environment is constantly improving.
In fact, China is not only a large carnivore frequently appeared, many extremely endangered or considered extinct animals and plants also began to appear in people's field of vision, such as the wild Chuandong Lantern Primrose, which was once considered extinct, "appeared" in Chongqing, and 2100 plants were found at a time; the one-leaf grass rarer than the giant panda was found for the first time in the Taibai Mountains of Qinling; wild lettuce was found in Lin'an, Zhejiang Province, with an area of about 600 square meters; the jade dragon fern, a critically endangered plant, was found for the first time in Siguniang Mountain, Xiaojin County, Aba Prefecture, Sichuan; and the endangered bird of prey jade belt sea eagle reappeared in Shahu Lake, Ningxia, after 3 years. Wings spread in the air up to 2 meters long.
Moreover, in recent decades, with the strengthening of China's efforts to protect the ecological environment, the population of many endangered species has gradually recovered, and the number of wild populations has continued to increase, such as the Asian elephant from 185 in 1985 to more than 300 now; the Hainan gibbon has increased from less than 10 in 2 groups 40 years ago to 33 in 5 groups; and the global crested ibis population has increased from 7 when it was discovered in 1981. This has increased to more than 7,000 wild and artificially bred populations (of which more than 5,000 are in Shaanxi); the wild population of giant pandas has increased from 1,114 in the 1970s and 1980s to 1,864 now; and the wild population of Tibetan antelopes has recovered to more than 300,000.
In addition, rare animals such as elk (also known as "four unlikes"), wild horses and other rare animals that were once endangered have also re-established wild populations, and wild plants such as Emei Smile and Canopy Wood have basically been eliminated. All this fully shows that China has a good situation of harmonious development with nature such as wild boar infestation in the forest and birds returning to the mountain forest, and also shows the world the efforts and achievements made by China as a responsible major country in the world in protecting the ecological environment and maintaining biodiversity.
And now, we have ushered in a good news, that is, more difficult to see than tigers and leopards and other carnivorous jackals, in Gansu actually shot 14 at a time, what is going on?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="21" > 14 jackals were first found in Zhangye, Gansu</h1> Province
Earlier this month, when the staff of Qilian Mountain National Park conducted a routine patrol of the infrared cameras deployed in the Heiyagou area of Zhangye City, Gansu Province, they found that the infrared cameras recorded the scene of 14 jackals moving together, and from the picture, we can clearly see several adult jackals with young jackals chasing and foraging on the alpine meadow, acting very relaxed and free. This also shows that the habitat of these 14 jackals is very good.
The scene of the 14 jackals collectively in the same frame was the largest number of jackal activities recorded in Qilian Mountain National Park, and it was also the first time that large-scale jackal activities were found in Zhangye Sunanyugur Autonomous County, Gansu Province.
And the jackal itself is a kind of "haunted" carnivorous animal, it is generally difficult to find their whereabouts, but this time 14 jackals were photographed together, which is enough to show that the ecological environment protection of Qilian Mountain National Park is very good, and the species and number of other wild animals in the park have increased significantly, providing a good habitat environment and a stable food source for the survival of the jackal. And the concentrated appearance of these 14 jackals provides a reference for the protection of other ecosystems in China.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" Data-track="38" What species is > jackal? </h1>
The jackal is a genus of jackals in the family Carnivorous canines, with a total of 11 subspecies, with a body length of 85-130 cm, a tail length of 45-50 cm, and a weight of 15-32 kg, similar in size to dogs but smaller than wolves.
From the perspective of habitat environment, the jackal's habitat is more complex, the distribution range is also relatively wide, in the low latitude tropical rainforest, the middle and high latitude hilly mountains and the subalpine woodland at an altitude of 2500-3500 meters, alpine meadows, and even alpine bare rock and other areas can be found in its activity traces, is a kind of carnivore that can both resist cold and heat, the "14 jackals" found in Sunan, Gansu, is the infrared camera recorded on the alpine meadow, just proves this.
One of the main subspecies of jackals distributed in China is called "Chinese Jackal", some places are also called jackals, jackals, Asian wild dogs, red dogs, etc., its typical features are reddish brown back hair, black hair tip, abdominal hair color is lighter, in addition, its body is shorter than the wolf but the tail is slightly longer than the wolf, and the tail hair is long and dense like a fox tail.
From the perspective of living habits, jackals belong to social animals, a group of at least 2-3 individuals, usually composed of 7-8, at most can reach 10-30 groups of paired scale, Qilian Mountain National Park this time recorded "14 jackals" frame picture is also very rare.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="68" >Why are jackals so rare? </h1>
In terms of population status, jackals of various subspecies are now very rare, and the reason is mainly due to human influences.
Due to the different degrees of destruction of the natural environment in various places in the past, the jackals and other herbivores or omnivorous animals such as buffalo, horses, deer, goats, wild boars, etc. have lost their habitat and hidden conditions, the number has been decreasing, and the jackals, which are becoming more and more difficult to hunt, have been forced to enter human settlements to steal livestock and livestock, and jackals have been hunted as pests by humans, and many places have used chickens, ducks and piglets as "bait" to trap jackals and kill them, resulting in jackals quickly becoming endangered species.
In February this year, according to the new list of wild animals under national key protection, jackals have been upgraded from national second-level protected wild animals to national first-level protected wild animals, and 65 species of wild animals such as Yangtze River finless porpoises have been "promoted" in the same period.
With the decline of carnivores such as jackals, other ecological problems have also been raised. For example, in mountainous areas, where jackals are infested, the phenomenon of wild boars, badgers and other scourges on crops is obviously much less, but now many parts of our country can be described as wild boars have been flooded, which not only caused a large-scale harvest of crops in many places, affecting the enthusiasm of farmers in farming, but also repeated incidents of wild boar injuries, posing a great threat to the safety of people's lives and property.
Knowing this stake, people also began to realize the importance of ecological environmental protection, especially the top predators in the ecological chain as natural enemies in balancing herbivores or omnivores.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" Data-track="43" How fierce is > the jackal's attack? </h1>
As mentioned above, the jackal is gregarious, rarely living alone, and like animals such as hyenas and wolves, it usually forages in groups.
The jackal is bold and fierce, and although it is slightly smaller than the wolf, its combat effectiveness is higher than that of the wolf, whether it is a single head or a group battle. And although the jackal is relatively small and looks very calm, many animals are deceived by its characteristics, and it even dares to attack animals much larger than itself, and is the most flexible and ferocious canine in existence, mainly preying on even-hoofed animals such as deer, chamois, musk deer, goats, and sometimes attacking buffalo.
And the jackal is very agile, and good at jumping, "standing long jump" can jump to 3 meters away, and with the help of fast running can easily cross 5-6 meters of ditches, its flexibility is better than tigers, lions, bears and other beasts, almost equivalent to cats such as lynx and clouded leopards.
In terms of bite force, jackals can reach 226 kilograms (about 500 pounds), so this typical mountain animal dares to try anything but asian elephants and Asian rhinos, which are huge animals. There have been many incidents in India where jackals compete with Bengal tigers for food, and the result is basically that after the jackals have suffered a few or more casualties, the tigers are still bitten alive by the remaining jackals who are chasing them.
In fact, although the Jackal's "single soldier" combat is more fierce, its "killer skill" is still a group attack, which is very similar to the hyena. Taking the attack on the larger buffalo as an example, the jackals usually surround the buffalo and quickly encircle the vulnerable parts of the buffalo from both sides, generally the first step is to use sharp and barbed claws to blind the buffalo's eyes so that it cannot distinguish the direction; the second step is to jump on the buffalo's back and tear its skin to make it painful; the third step is to attack the buffalo's anus, like a hyena "pulling out the anus", pulling out its intestines and other internal organs, making it completely incapacitated.
Therefore, jackals, hyenas, such as animals that like to "fight in groups" and are accustomed to "three abuses", let alone buffalo or African bison, will be afraid of it, that is, tigers, lions and other beasts have to avoid three points. And if people don't have tools, once they encounter jackals in the wild, and they are not bold enough, and there is only one piece of meat near you, it depends on creation.