著者
Abdukadir Ablimit Khan Babar Masuda Ryuichi Ohdachi Satoshi
出版者
Pakistan Wildlife Foundation
雑誌
Pakistan Journal of Wildlife (ISSN:22273158)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.1, no.2, pp.57-63, 2010

Asiatic wild cat, Felis silvestris ornata, once regarded as least concern is declining rapidly in its natural habitat in the Xinjiang desert region of China mainly because of excessive hunting for pelt trade followed by shrinkage of its habitat due to cultivation, oil and gas exploration and excessive use of pesticides. Prior to 1950, it was the most abundant felid in Xingjian dwelling along all major river basin systems and Taklimakan desert but later it got confined to three regions of southern Xinjiang only viz., Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Oblast, Aksu and Hotan. Despite several expeditions, correct distribution and status of this illusive cat was unknown. This review article is an update on current status, distribution, ecological behavior, conservation and habitat characteristics of Asiatic wild cat in Xinjiang arid region of China. Specimen collected from various parts of Xinjiang exhibit varied phenotypic characters. It has protruding morphological features like many other desert animals. It has dense and soft hairs on the forelimb pads like other felids but rarely behaves nocturnally, adjusting its movement with seasonal variation and food availability. Tarim hare, Lepus yarkandensis, is the primary source of food followed by gerbil, jerboa, birds, fish and lizards. Literature and the statistics both reveal that it’s remnant population is declining fast limiting it to only a few fragmented habitats in the lower reaches of Hotan, Yarkand, Tarim, Qarqan, Niya and Keriya river basins, rendering it no more a least concern species at least in China. Therefore, adequate policy decisions and concrete conservation actions are required to halt and eventually reverse the declining population of the cat and its deteriorating habitat in Xinjiang.
著者
MAHMUT Halik GANZORIG Sumiya ONUMA Manabu MASUDA Ryuichi SUZUKI Masatsugu OHTAISHI Noriyuki
出版者
The Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine
雑誌
Japanese Journal of Veterinary Research (ISSN:00471917)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.49, no.3, pp.231-237, 2001-11-30

To evaluate the genetic diversity of the Xinjiang Tarim red deer (Cervus elaphus yarkandensis) population, we analyzed the frequencies of microsatellite alleles. Samples were collected from 3 isolated populations in Xaya, Lopnur and Qarqan of Xinjiang. Although 10 microsatellite loci were examined, alleles of 133 to 190 base-pairs were detected for only 3 loci : BM5004, BM4208 and BM888. The average observed multilocus heterozygosity was 0.08±0.04 for the Xaya, 0 for the Lopnur, and 0.17±0.08 for the Qarqan population. The average heterozygosity of all populations was 0.08±0.02. The observed heterozygosities were significantly lower than the expected values. The present results suggest that the bottleneck effect has occurred in the populations of the Xinjiang Tarim red deer.