The Biluo Snow Mountain is a Himalayan remnant, which is separated from the Tanggula Mountains in Tibet and extends south to Yunnan Province, east of the Lancang River, and west of the Nu River, where the original ecosystem is very well preserved. The mountains are densely covered with waterfalls and high mountains and lakes, which are called "the mountains of thousands of waterfalls and thousands of lakes".
According to Yunnan Net, in the Biluo Snow Mountain, when some villagers went to patrol the mountains, they suddenly heard a call similar to a wild cat from the trees. Looking closer, a strangely shaped wild animal appeared in front of me. Why is it strange, because its ears are round and pointed, its face looks like a small mouse, and the pattern on the back resembles that of a small leopard, but the overall appearance is very different from that of a wild cat, and he cannot identify what kind of animal it is for a while.
After taking a few photos, this guy suddenly disappeared. Back in the village, everyone said that this thing had never been seen before, and only one old man said that it was a big spirit cat. Later, after several twists and turns, zoologists at the Kunming Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences identified that this wild animal was not a cat, let alone a big spirit cat, but a spotted fox.
The scientific name of the Chinese of the spotted fox is the big spotted spirit cat, which belongs to a kind of wild animal of the mammal carnivorous cat family, and the local people commonly call the stinky cat and the puma, which has four monsters, and many people do not know.
This guy's face is a bit like a mouse, and the markings on the back are very similar to small leopards. Chinese Zoological Records record that the body of the spotted fox is larger than the cat and smaller than the big spirit cat, with a body length of 75-90 cm and ears of 3-5 cm long.
From a distance, the size, body color and under the neck of the spotted fox are similar to those of the big civet, but the back of the spotted fox is gray-brown, a black stripe on the shoulder runs through the buttocks, and there are two large dark brown spots on the back, which is very beautiful.
The back of the body has a clear round or square spot that looks like a leopard print. The spots are arranged in several rows, the middle of the spots is grayish white, which is very different from the dorsal stripes, and there are 2 black stripes under the neck, like a small scarf.
The tail of the spotted fox is not long or short, generally 30-40 cm long, close to half the body length. The tail end is black, there are only 4 black rings on it, and the black and white tail ring does not run through the entire tail, and there is no ring-tailed lemur beautiful.
Its hind feet are generally 5–8 cm long, there are no claw sheaths on the third and fourth toes of the forefoot, the soles of the feet are exposed between the pads, and the front footprints appear shorter and wider than the posterior footprints, somewhat similar to the clouded leopard.
It inhabits tropical rainforests below 2700 m above sea level and subtropical montane wet evergreen broad-leaved forests, although it can survive in monsoon evergreen broad-leaved forests.
In the past, in the savannah jungle at the edge of the woodland, in the grass shrubs on both sides of the river valley, the spotted beaver was common, even along the ditch and near the village.
Today, the spotted fox is particularly rare in the wild in China, and it is found in Guangxi and Yunnan, but in very small numbers. It is mainly distributed in Gaoligong Mountain and Biluo Snow Mountain in northwestern Yunnan, Yingjiang in the west, Menglian and Lancang in the southwest, Mengla, Jinping and Maguan in the south, Ailao Mountain in Xinping in the central part, and Baise area in southwest Guangxi.
In addition, there were small distributions in the Himalayas of southern Tibet, Guiyang and Rongjiang in Guizhou, Ya'an in western Sichuan, and Lianshan in Guangdong, but are now basically extinct.
In Southeast Asia, a few are also found in Nepal, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Laos and northern Vietnam. However, it is also difficult to see, and experts expect to become extinct within 10 years.
The spotted beaver often prefers to move alone and generally forages at night. When night falls or before dawn, it is most active and agile, so the locals like to call it puma.
As we all know, due to its small size, the spotted fox inevitably becomes the prey of other carnivores. Of course, the spotted foxes will not sit still, they are like weasels, in case of danger, they will release a foul-smelling secretion from the reproductive part, so that predators will retreat.
Surprisingly, this foul-smelling secretion is still a treasure, and after professional refining and dilution, it is an excellent fragrance.
The spotted fox prefers meat, which is somewhat similar to cats, and feeds mainly on rodents, frogs, birds and insects.
Whatever can be eaten, whether it is crabs, spiders, snails, birds, fish, earthworms, rats, it dares to eat, which is somewhat similar to the taste of Cantonese people.
Hungry and unable to find food, they will run to the village and steal poultry; in the mountains, they like trees to prey on squirrels, squirrels, and even sneak into houses to prey on rats, sometimes learn weasels to steal chickens, and even snakes will become its targets.
There are three kinds of civet cat subfamily distributed in China: the spotted fox big civet cat and the small civet cat. Although everyone is called a spirit cat, their appearance characteristics are still very obvious. A lot of people are stupidly confused.
According to the "China Green Times", the spotted fox is not a big spirit cat, but the color and markings on the body are very similar, but the spotted fox has larger spots; the big spirit cat is larger, weighing up to 10 kilograms, and there are no obvious patches on the body; and the small civet cat has a long tail that is more than half the length of the body, but the weight is usually lighter, generally no more than 4 kg.
The spotted fox is an extremely rare species in China, and the population status is very sparse and currently on the verge of extinction.
The risk factors for the spotted fox are mainly hunting, of course, the distribution area is too small and the relative isolation of the population distribution is also a reason for its imminent demise.
Any species has its own reason for existence, human beings can not be greedy and artificially hunt them, when most of the wild animals on the earth perish, may be the beginning of human death. Believe it or not, the law exists objectively, like a small bat that causes the whole country to stay at home for the New Year.
Snow Spirit Valley Animal Lab/Production References: China Science Daily, Zoological Journal of China, China Green Times, China Forestry Network, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences