Wild Linshi Detected for the First Time in Huangguan Mountain Provincial Nature Reserve
On April 1, 2020, staff of the Huangshan Natural Reserve were sorting wild infrared camera monitoring images, and they found that multiple locations captured photos and videos of wild Linshi (Pardoxurus taiguma), this was the first time that the state-level protected animal Linshi appeared in the protection zone’s ‘footage’. This discovery filled the gap in Ningshan County’s wild Linshi monitoring image data, demonstrating that the Huangshan provincial natural protection zone’s excellent ecological environment has become a paradise for wild animals, with abundant biodiversity within.
Linshi belongs to the family Mustelidae and is one of the smallest species in the genus Mustela, a state-level key protected wild animal and listed as an endangered species. Adult Linshi weighs 6 to 9 kilograms and is 63 to 80 centimeters in length. They have short tails, slender legs, and narrow, pointed hooves. Both males and females lack horns, but male Linshi have developed canine teeth that curve backward and extend outward beyond the lips; their ears are long and erect, with a slightly rounded tip, and their fur is coarse and stiff, forming a wavy, easily broken pattern, usually dark brown, and adults lack spots, with a prominent white stripe on either side of the neck, extending to the armpits.
Linshi are naturally timid, with sensitive vision and smell. They primarily feed on leaves, grasses, mosses, young shoots, lichens, and various wild fruits. They are adept at jumping and walking on steep cliffs, mainly inhabiting conifer-mixed forests at altitudes of 2000 to 3800 meters, with some distribution in lower-altitude areas. Male Linshi secrete musk, which has high medicinal value and is also a valuable natural high-grade fragrance, often referred to as ‘soft gold’.
Since 2013, the protection zone has continuously carried out wild infrared camera scientific monitoring, gradually mastering the distribution status of animal resources, and has collected more than 300,000 photos and video images from wild infrared cameras, having captured more than 30 rare animals, including giant pandas, golden monkeys, cattle-antelopes, black bears, elaphants, dwarf deer, and hyenas; more than 20 rare birds such as red-flanked puffins, red-crested cockatoos, and blood pheasants. On May 27, 2019 and June 1, 2019, infrared camera monitoring images of Qinling cattle-antelope and wild boar, provided by the protection zone, were broadcast on CCTV’s ‘Secret Realm’ program.
In recent years, the Huangshan Huangshan Provincial Natural Protection Zone Administration has not relaxed its primary business of resource protection, built a safeguard against resource security, strengthened publicity and education, community co-construction, and fulfilled its responsibilities to protect the harmonious coexistence of humans and nature, and the number of natural species in the protection zone has gradually increased.
Huangshan Huangshan Natural Reserve Director Hua said, “In the next step, we will seriously increase the wild monitoring and protection patrols in the areas where Linshi were discovered, gradually understand their distribution and activity patterns, and further improve Linshi’s natural habitat environment.”
Source: Ningshan County People’s Government
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