Tiger numbers are continuously increasing, leopards are pushed to the forest edge, and the door for human-leopard conflict is opening.
The number of tigers is increasing, and leopards are pushed to the forest edge, opening the door for human-leopard conflict.
Tigers and leopards are both large cats, but in terms of attention, leopards are far less than tigers. For example, the number of wild Eastern leopards is about 100, and the number of wild Siberian tigers is about 600, however, which one do you find more impressive?
Figure: A giant Siberian tiger
Most people will probably answer: Siberian tiger. Indeed, tigers are several times larger than leopards, and they are more attractive to our eyes. In addition, since there are only 6 subspecies of tigers remaining, many animal protection workers are committed to the protection and population recovery of wild tigers.However, scientists have found that if protection of tigers ignores leopards, it may push leopards into more dangerous situations, open the door for human-leopard conflict.
Figure: An infrared camera photographed nocturnal leopards in Nepal
Tigers and leopards have very mysterious personalities, they usually don't like to live near humans, these large cats have high prey overlap, but leopards are obviously no match for tigers. This means,If tigers occupy a forest, leopards have to move their activity range to the forest edge.Besides, to reduce the probability of encountering tigers, leopards also have to change their activity times appropriately.
Figure: Tigers hunting leopards
This will affect the survival of leopards; on the other hand, as leopards come closer to humans, it maylead to more human-leopard conflicts – leopards will harm people and livestock, and people will retaliate against leopards.Figure: A leopard appears in an Indian suburbIndia is one of the most frequent countries for human-leopard conflict. Since the 21st century, more than 100 human-leopard conflict events have occurred in the North Akhand region of India, dozens of people were injured or killed by leopards, and at least 56 leopards were killed by humans. While only 4 eating leopards were killed by humans, far less than the number of eating leopards.The places where human-leopard conflicts occur in India are mostly on the forest edge…these may verify the theory that 'tigers push leopards to the forest edge, leading to more human-leopard conflict'.Figure: A leopard hunts dogs in a residential areaIn 2009, the World Wildlife Fund began to promote a global tiger conservation plan worldwide, namely the 'Wild Tiger Population Doubling Plan', that is, by 2022, achieving the goal of doubling the number of wild tigers worldwide, making the number of wild tigers about 6500.In recent years, wild tiger distribution countries such as India, Russia, Nepal, and China have been working hard to achieve this goal, and have achieved certain results. For example, the wild tigers in India have grown to nearly 3000. However, we must remain vigilant:
As the number of tigers increases, the area of habitat occupied by tigers is also constantly expanding, which may push more and more leopards to the forest edge, push them into human living areas, and open the door for human-leopard conflict.
Figure: A Bengal tiger hunts in the deep forestSo how to solve the negative impact of tiger conservation work on leopards and humans? This is a difficult problem, involving tigers, leopards, humans, habitat and four main subjects.The activities of tigers affect leopards, the activities of leopards affect humans, human activities also affect the survival of tigers and leopards, and the total area of habitat is difficult to change, it is shared by tigers, leopards and humans.
The relationship between humans and wild animals is extremely complex, if you want to protect multiple endangered species at the same time, it will face more challenges.
Figure: A leopard hunts dogs at night
However, it should be noted that the increase in wild tiger numbers is a good thing. We cannot reduce the number of tigers in order to let leopards live in the forest center and reduce the threat of leopards to humans.Focus on Cats coming, understand interesting cat species.
