Tiger and leopard go down the mountain. Why are dogs hunted?

Recently, I was deeply impressed by two things about big cats. First, a leopard in Xinlong County, Sichuan Province went into the village and ate a dog. 2. Two dogs of a farmer's house in Hegang, Heilongjiang were killed by wild animals. After the staff of Taipinggou National Nature Reserve arrived, according to the plum blossom footprints left at the scene, it was inferred that the wild animal that killed the dog was the Northeast Tiger.

In fact, as early as before the incident, four Siberian tigers had been discovered in Taipinggou National Nature Reserve, and high-definition images had been taken. Local cadres also publicize safety measures and animal protection regulations door to door.

Northeast Tiger Found in Taipinggou Nature Reserve

One is a leopard, the other is a tiger, one is in the south and the other is in the north. These two things seem to be far apart, but there are many similarities, such as large carnivores going down the mountain and entering the village, and dogs being bitten to death. In fact, it is not uncommon for dogs to be preyed by tigers, especially in recent years, and there are many related reports, such as:

Around February 2008, seven dogs were killed and eaten by wild Siberian tigers in Hunchun City, Jilin Province alone. 201215, the dog in the old gold mine in Sandaogou, Hadamen, Hunchun City disappeared and was found to have been dragged to the mountain by the Northeast Tiger. 20 12 February 22nd, 12, Sandaogou, Hadamen Township, Hunchun, Northeast Tiger preyed on dogs again and was identified as a female tiger by experts. 2065438+February 2, 2005, a police dog tied near a border guard camp in Hunchun was killed by a wild animal and ate part of it, which was later identified by experts as the work of the Northeast Tiger. 2065438+July 2006, a wild Siberian tiger was found on a village road in Machuanzi Township, Hunchun City. Prior to this, it had eaten four dog protection dogs in the nearby ginseng plantation. 20 19, 19 On March 3, a big German shepherd in a villager's home in Jinmantun Village, Taipinggou Township, Luobei County was killed by a wild Siberian tiger crossing the border. 2065438+09124 October 10 A dog near Taiping Village in Wangqing County was killed by a wild animal. Inferred by the mobile station staff, the culprit behind the scenes is a Siberian tiger. After reading these news, sometimes we can't help thinking, why do wild animals go down the mountain? Bear the brunt? Is it really a dog? It stands to reason that the main prey of large carnivores such as tigers and leopards are ungulates such as cattle and sheep. Dogs are more alert than cattle and sheep in every way. However, the facts are in front of us, and there must be deeper reasons behind them.

Are the leopard of Northeast Tiger and Xinlong short of food? The reason why tigers and leopards hunt livestock down the mountain is that many people first think of the lack of wild prey, so they will stare at livestock. But do tigers and leopards in Northeast China really lack wild prey?

Lack of food mainly depends on two aspects. First, what is the population size of wild ungulates? The second is to see whether the density of predators is high in spatial distribution. Simply put, how many predators are there in the same habitat? How many carnivores are there? Let's take a look at the leopard of Xinlong first.

leopard

Xinlong County is located in Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the southwest hinterland of China, with a good ecological environment. Because there are seven kinds of wild cats, they are also called? The land of seven cats? These seven cats include leopards.

Compared with other places, the living standard in the southwest hinterland is in a low state because of traffic congestion, and the establishment of protected areas, so human activities have not had much impact on local wildlife.

One of the main reasons why Xinlong County can have many carnivores such as snow leopard, leopard cat, lynx and black bear at the same time is that there are a large number of wild ungulates here, such as red deer, white-lipped deer, forest musk deer and argali.

Although all leopard populations in China are recovering, their numbers are far from saturated in their respective habitats. In Xinlong County, where there are many prey and their habitats are continuous and complete, leopards need not worry about their prey at all.

Distribution range of contemporary leopard in China

Besides, the Northeast Tiger. The number of wild Siberian tigers in China is only 30, not more than 40, and the area of Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park is 1.46 million hectares, which is far from saturation.

Has the Siberian tiger in China reached saturation? Can its habitat meet the needs of survival? The most intuitive performance is to look at the tiger's own choice. In fact, people have photographed Russian tigers migrating to China more than once.

For example, in June 20 19, a Russian tigress with three cubs was photographed in the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park to settle in the northeast of China. You know, the mother tiger in the period of feeding her cubs has high ecological requirements. At this stage, the tigress has a higher demand for food and will kill prey more frequently than usual. If the environment and prey richness here can't meet the requirements, then why did it come all the way?

As a key protected animal in China, the Siberian tiger has been devoted to the related protection work. Among them, sika deer and red deer, which have been released in batches since 20 14, breed well and form a population, so for Siberian tigers, isn't it? Rich as oil? , but? Eat and drink? There is nothing to worry about.

Just as everyone has his favorite food, large carnivores also have their own preferences for prey. As a large predator in the forest, butch and leopard also have their own requirements for prey. Generally speaking, large ungulates occupy a very large proportion in their diet structure.

Some scientists in Russia and the United States disclosed a set of data when studying the interspecific ecology of Siberian tigers and wolves in the Russian Far East. Among them, the main prey of Siberian tiger is red deer, followed by wild boar, which accounts for the vast majority of the diet of Siberian tiger, while small and medium-sized herbivores such as roebuck and impala account for a small proportion of the prey of tiger.

Predation preference of Siberian tigers and wolves

For example, in Xinlong County, besides seven kinds of cats such as leopard and snow leopard, there are many kinds of ferrets, canines and Xiong Ke animals. Why can they be in a county? Peace * *? ?

The main reason is that Xinlong County has a large number of prey and complex species, which can meet the preferences and needs of predators of all sizes.

Here, there are red deer, white-lipped deer, water deer, wild boar and so on. It has become the main prey of leopards. Because of its large number, it also despises other small prey. Between these predators, there will naturally be no big conflict over the competition for prey, so they will live in peace.

The impact of human activities on wildlife is undoubtedly huge and far-reaching, and it can't be finished in a few thousand words. Therefore, I will focus on the impact of human agricultural activities on the diet of large predators at the junction of human living space and wildlife living space. The most direct evidence is the change of diet structure of Asian lions before and after.

At the beginning of the establishment of Gil Forest National Park, people actually lived in it. At that time, the indigenous Mahari people did not move out. Because they live a primitive grazing life, livestock have caused great damage to the local ecology, and the living space of wild ungulates has been compressed, so the population development is slow. In addition, the proportion of livestock in the diet of Asian lions is as high as 75%.

Since 1972, Mahari people have migrated to the periphery of the nature reserve, and ungulate species such as gazelle, wild boar, antelope and deer in the nature reserve have developed rapidly, with a growth rate of 600%. After that, people once again investigated the diet structure of Asian lions and found that the proportion of domestic animals had dropped to 25%.

It shows that when human beings frequently engage in agricultural activities, not only the wild ungulate species with fierce competition with them will be affected, but also the large predators will be strongly affected, and the result is the direct predation of livestock.

Asian lions prey on yellow cattle

Let's look at the tiger and leopard problem. After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), with the vigorous development of roads and economy in inland areas, the population and livestock in Xinlong County are also increasing. Because there are many nomads in Qinghai-Tibet, some graze reasonably and legally, and some graze illegally in protected areas. These livestock have become the main prey of local leopards and other wild animals.

Although there is no large-scale grazing at the junction of people and tigers in Northeast China, with the gradual restoration of ecology, the number of tigers has increased, and the surrounding agricultural production activities can naturally attract some Northeast tigers.

Siberian tiger in marginal areas

Compared with wild ungulates, domesticated animals are less vigilant and wild, and are more likely to prey. Moreover, after so many years of publicity and education on wildlife protection, the awareness of environmental and animal protection has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. In addition, the death and loss of livestock caused by protecting animals from predation can receive corresponding subsidies in the country, so even if wild animals such as tigers and leopards prey on livestock down the mountain, farmers will not retaliate against them as before. In most cases, they shouted to get rid of them. Over time, tigers and leopards who often go down the mountain become accustomed to this and naturally prey on livestock more frequently.

What is even more frightening is that this kind of survival experience can be passed on to the next generation through reproduction, and even this behavior can become the norm after several generations. Once the situation develops to this point, if we want to erase the behavior of predation of livestock, we need this knowledge to date between species, that is, all individuals who know this knowledge disappear, in order to succeed.

Cattle and sheep quilt? Watch it, dogs are relatively free here. Many people may have such questions. Since the main prey of Siberian tigers and leopards are some large ungulates, why don't they prey on cattle and sheep instead of dogs after entering the village? In fact, at first, most of the prey of butch and leopard were cattle, sheep and other domestic animals.

It is nothing new that leopards prey on cattle and sheep on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. They prey on some domestic animals every year, and the number can even reach hundreds.

In addition to leopards, carnivores such as snow leopards, lynx and wolves also pose a threat to livestock. For example, in the annual breeding season, a large number of calves are born, and carnivores such as Eurasian lynx will move around the pastoral area, trying to prey on some calves.

The same is true in the northeast. Although we have seen the news that tigers prey on dogs many times, in fact, the main prey of Northeast tigers after going down the mountain and entering the village is cattle and sheep. You can see more relevant news by entering relevant keywords in the search engine.

Compared with dogs, cattle, sheep and other livestock are more important to farmers, and some are even the only source of income for the whole family. Therefore, in order to prevent cattle and sheep from being preyed by Siberian tigers, people have raised their awareness of prevention to the highest level. Simply put, they observe cattle and sheep more closely, so that tigers have no chance.

Footprints left by the Northeast Tiger after entering the village.

Relatively speaking, dogs in rural areas are more free. When the tiger comes, dogs can often find the tiger at the first time by relying on their strong hearing and smell. As an animal with territorial consciousness and a strong sense of mission to protect the family, when it meets a tiger, it often barks at it and even deals with it. This series of actions will undoubtedly challenge and anger the tiger and leopard, which will lead them to kill dogs.

In addition, there are more and more news that tigers and leopards prey on dogs. Another important reason is the number of dogs, especially the number of stray dogs.

Plateau stray dog

For example, after the Tibetan mastiff fever, a large number of Tibetan mastiffs can't be sold, and some mastiff farms can't afford the huge daily food expenses, so they have to release these mastiffs into the wild, which makes the number of stray dogs in Qinghai-Tibet region surge, forming large groups to compete with wild animals for food, and at the same time becoming prey of some large carnivores.

Although the situation in Xinlong County is better and there are not too many stray dogs, it is an indisputable fact that there are more and more dogs in the local area than before the 1990s. Because these dogs live on the edge of the forest, they will naturally attract leopards to hunt.

India is a typical example. We all know that India has the largest number of stray dogs in the world. There are about 300 million stray dogs in the world, and India accounts for 30 million. In Mumbai, leopards often haunt the suburbs. When night falls, they will prey on stray dogs.

Northeast Tiger and Wolf? Hate? In the above news about the Northeast Tiger preying on dogs, we tigers don't eat every time, sometimes we don't even eat a bite and just bite to death. It can be seen that the Northeast Tiger preying on dogs is not as simple as being hungry. In fact, in addition to being angry with dogs, it may also be related to the relationship between tigers and wolves.

In the Russian Far East, grey wolves also live in the range of tigers, and the competition with Siberian tigers is the fiercest. According to the research of scientists in the Russian Far East, it is found that the main food of wolves is red deer, followed by fragrant roe deer and wild boar.

Wolves are one of the most successful predators in the world. They are distributed in most parts of the northern hemisphere, which is related to their habits. In warm areas with abundant prey, wolves can act alone, while in cold areas with few prey, they live in groups and rely on team advantages, which many solitary predators do not have.

The Russian Far East is located at the northern end of Asia, and the temperature is low most of the year, so the local gray wolves basically move in groups, and the number of lone wolves is small, so their hunting target is often large ungulates, which is consistent with the tiger's preference for prey size.

Wolf hunting

Because wolves usually catch their prey in the form of chasing and often follow the herd, once they hunt, they will inevitably make a loud noise in the forest, which will scare the herd and run away, which is very unfavorable for tigers who live alone and ambush their prey. Moreover, wolves are natural enemies of tiger cubs, so tigers are not allowed to have wolves in their habitats, whether for food competition or for the safety of future generations, and will spare no effort to kill wolves.

Experts from the Wildlife Conservation Society and Durham University have conducted long-term research in the Russian Far East and found that there is a very obvious negative correlation between the Siberian tiger and the wolf.

Before the 20th century, there were a large number of wild Siberian tigers in the area. At this time, the number of wolves in the same habitat is very small, which is at a historically low level. However, after entering the 20th century, Russia wantonly killed tigers, resulting in a sharp decline in the number of Siberian tigers.

In the 1940s, the number of tigers in Russia dropped to the lowest level in history. However, in the half century when the number of tigers in Russia dropped sharply, the number of wolves increased greatly. Especially in the 1940s, the number of wolves in the Russian Far East was amazing, even threatening human beings, so people killed 105 wolves.

Changes in the number of tigers and wolves in Siberia

But from 65438 to 0947, Russia realized the importance of tigers and began to protect them vigorously. After a series of measures, the number of tigers slowly picked up.

According to observation, during the period when the number of Siberian tigers increased, the number of wolves showed a downward trend, especially in the 1960s and 1970s, because at this stage, China killed tigers on a large scale, resulting in a large number of Siberian tigers being driven to Russia, which was a great supplement to Russian tigers.

The relationship between the Siberian tiger and the wolf is changing, which shows that the tiger can indeed inhibit the development of the wolf population in the same habitat.

Dogs in the country

Why does the Siberian tiger have something to do with wolves when it preys on dogs? The reason is that dogs and wolves are too similar, and tigers can't tolerate wolves in their own range of activities, so it is not excluded that the Northeast Tiger after going down the mountain regards the dog as a wolf, so he kills it? Wolf? This has become a very normal and inevitable thing.

In fact, both tigers and leopards are creatures at the top of the food chain. When they meet dogs? Challenge? Sometimes, in order to defend their own minority, they will attack.