Effects of odors on behaviors of captive Amur leopards Panthera pardus orientalis

Captive environments often fail to resemble the wild environment in respects of limited space, unchanging habitat, lack of stimulus and contingency. Common animal welfare problems which occur in captive animals include low behavioral diversity, abnormal behavior and excessive inactivity. Environmental enrichment, as an effective strategy to tackle these problems and promote mental health of captive animals, has been recognized as an important principal for captive animal management. Among all the enriehment techniques, olfactory enrichment is a simple and effective method for improving the well-being of the olfactory sensitive felids. Behavioral problems were observed in six Amur leopards Panthera pardus orientalis at Beijing Zoological Garden. These were held in the older type exhibits which have now been rebuilt. These behaviors include stereotypic behavior and excessive inactivity caused by the spatially limited enclosures with low levels of stimuli. To determine the effects of predator, prey, and herb odors as potential enrichment materials for captive leopards, we conducted olfactory enrichment experiments for the leopards and tested the effects of nutmeg Myristica fragrans, feces of roe deer Capreolus capreolus and urine of Amur tiger Panthera tigris altaica to test for an increase in behavioral repertoire and activity. Odors provided in this study were also believed to improve the psychological and physiological health of individuals. To standardize the method of presentation the odors were introduced to the enclosures by rubbing or spraying onto a clean towel. Our results show that the selected three odors effectively increased the behavioral diversity. Ten new behavior types were observed in the nutmeg experiment, eight in the feces of roe deer experiment and six in the tiger urine experiment. Among the three odors, cats responded to nutmeg for the longest duration, followed by tiger urine and feces of roe deer. Leopards showed more play behavior in presence of nutmeg while more investigatory behavior in presences of feces of roe deer and tiger urine. Providing novel odors increased the spatial use of the exhibit and the animal＇ s increased use of the logs, sleeping platforms and bars in the cages. Novel odors also significantly increased the overall activity of the leopards, but the effects were diminished in about three hours.

An initial coprological survey of parasitic fauna in the wild Amur leopard(Panthera pardus orientalis)

The Amur leopard,one of nine recently recognized subspecies of leopard,is still the most threatened by a stochastic procession of extinction.Evaluation of the potential danger to the conservation of the Amur leopard originating from disease urgently needs to be studied.Unfortunately,research on the potential risk to Amur leopards caused by disease is rare.In terms of parasitic diseases that affect this species,even basic data for parasitic fauna are absent.The aim of this study is to acquire this knowledge to improve the general understanding of Amur leopard parasites.Seven parasite species,including 3 nematodes(Toxocara cati,a capillarid-type parasite,and a Metastrongyloideatype parasite),2 cestodes(Spirometra sp.and Taenia sp.),1 trematode(Paragonimus sp.),and 1 protozoan(Cystoisospora felis),were found in this research.Toxocara cati occurred most frequently,followed by Spirometra sp.

山西铁桥山省级自然保护区华北豹及其猎物的时空动态研究

生态位分化使时空资源利用重叠的物种实现共存,并且生态位研究在野生动物管理、种间关系和群落结构等方面有广泛应用和深远影响。放牧作为最主要的人为干扰之一,通过资源(食物、时间、空间等)竞争改变野生动物资源利用特征,甚至影响同域分布物种的生存。华北豹(Panthera pardus japonesis)是我国特有的珍稀野生动物,而其野生猎物种群数量会因与家畜资源竞争而减少,甚至直接或间接地影响华北豹种群生存。因此掌握保护区内家畜与野生动物的空间、时间利用情况,得以评估野生动物的生存状态。于2018年10月-2019年5月,通过架设62台红外自动相机获取铁桥山自然保护区4种哺乳动物活动数据,采用双物种单季节模型(Two⁃species single season model)和核密度估计(kernel density estimation)分析华北豹与猎物及其家畜在圈养、散养期的空间互作关系和活动规律,并且通过重叠系数(Coefficient of overlap)计算两物种间日活动时间重叠。结果表明:(1)家畜放养期间,华北豹⁃狍,华北豹⁃野猪的空间回避作用均比无家畜存在时减弱,可能是时间重叠程度增大的补偿机制。华北豹⁃牛的空间回避作用最强。(2)华北豹⁃牛时空重叠程度不大,牛⁃狍时空重叠程度较大,牛⁃野猪空间上共存而时间重叠程度较小。(3)日活动节律的结果说明狍为昼行性,野猪为晨昏活动。因探测到华北豹的次数有限,故关于其的日活动节律仍待考究。研究表明,放牧将影响华北豹与猎物的时间、空间资源利用情况,并有可能导致人⁃豹冲突加剧。

Mitogenomic analysis of the genus Panthera

The complete sequences of the mitochondrial DNA genomes of Panthera tigris,Panthera pardus,and Panthera uncia were determined using the polymerase chain reaction method.The lengths of the complete mitochondrial DNA sequences of the three species were 16990,16964,and 16773 bp,respectively.Each of the three mitochondrial DNA genomes included 13 protein-coding genes,22 tRNA,two rRNA,one O L R,and one control region.The structures of the genomes were highly similar to those of Felis catus,Acinonyx jubatus,and Neofelis nebulosa.The phylogenies of the genus Panthera were inferred from two combined mitochondrial sequence data sets and the complete mitochondrial genome sequences,by MP (maximum parsimony),ML (maximum likelihood),and Bayesian analysis.The results showed that Panthera was composed of Panthera leo,P.uncia,P.pardus,Panthera onca,P.tigris,and N.nebulosa,which was included as the most basal member.The phylogeny within Panthera genus was N.nebulosa (P.tigris (P.onca (P.pardus,(P.leo,P.uncia)))).The divergence times for Panthera genus were estimated based on the ML branch lengths and four well-established calibration points.The results showed that at about 11.3 MYA,the Panthera genus separated from other felid species and then evolved into the several species of the genus.In detail,N.nebulosa was estimated to be founded about 8.66 MYA,P.tigris about 6.55 MYA,P.uncia about 4.63 MYA,and P.pardus about 4.35 MYA.All these estimated times were older than those estimated from the fossil records.The divergence event,evolutionary process,speciation,and distribution pattern of P.uncia,a species endemic to the central Asia with core habitats on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and surrounding highlands,mostly correlated with the geological tectonic events and intensive climate shifts that happened at 8,3.6,2.5,and 1.7 MYA on the plateau during the late Cenozoic period.

Individual automatic detection and identification of big cats with the combination of different body parts

The development of facial recognition technology has become an increasingly powerful tool in wild animal indi-vidual recognition.In this paper,we develop an automatic detection and recognition method with the combinations of body features of big cats based on the deep convolutional neural network(CNN).We collected dataset including 12244 images from 47 individual Amur tigers(Panthera tigris altaica)at the Siberian Tiger Park by mobile phones and digital camera and 1940 images and videos of 12 individual wild Amur leopard(Panthera pardus orientalis)by infrared cameras.First,the single shot multibox detector algorithm is used to perform the automatic detection process of feature regions in each image.For the different feature regions of the image,like face stripe or spots,CNNs and multi-layer perceptron models were applied to automatically identify tiger and leopard individuals,in-dependently.Our results show that the identification accuracy of Amur tiger can reach up to 93.27%for face front,93.33%for right body stripe,and 93.46%for left body stripe.Furthermore,the combination of right face,left body stripe,and right body stripe achieves the highest accuracy rate,up to 95.55%.Consequently,the combination of different body parts can improve the individual identification accuracy.However,it is not the higher the number of body parts,the higher the accuracy rate.The combination model with 3 body parts has the highest accuracy.The identification accuracy of Amur leopard can reach up to 86.90%for face front,89.13%for left body spots,and 88.33%for right body spots.The accuracy of different body parts combination is lower than the independent part.For wild Amur leopard,the combination of face with body spot part is not helpful for the improvement of identification accuracy.The most effective identification part is still the independent left or right body spot part.It can be applied in long-term monitoring of big cats,including big data analysis for animal behavior,and be helpful for the individual identification of other wildlife species.

Predicting the Impact of Climate Change on Vulnerable Species in Gandaki River Basin,Central Himalayas

Gandaki River Basin(GRB)is an important part of the central Himalayan region,which provides habitat for numerous wild species.However,climatic changes are making the habitat in this basin more vulnerable.This paper aims to assess the potential impacts of climate change on the spatial distributions of habitat changes for two vulnerable species,Himalayan black bear(Ursus thibetanus laniger)and common leopard(Panthera pardus fusca),using the maximum entropy(Max Ent)species distribution model.Species occurrence locations were used along with several bioclimatic and topographic variables(elevation,slope and aspect)to fit the model and predict the potential distributions(current and future)of the species.The results show that the highly suitable area of Himalayan black bear within the GRB currently encompasses around 1642 km^(2)(5.01%area of the basin),which is predicted to increase by 51 km^(2) in the future(2050).Similarly,the habitat of common leopard is estimated as 3999 km^(2)(12.19%of the GRB area),which is likely to increase to 4806 km^(2) in 2050.Spatially,the habitat of Himalayan black bear is predicted to increase in the eastern part(Baseri,Tatopani and north from Bhainse)and to decrease in the eastern(Somdang,Chhekampar),western(Burtibang and Bobang)and northern(Sangboche,Manang,Chhekampar)parts of the study area.Similarly,the habitat of common leopard is projected to decrease particularly in the eastern,western and southern parts of the basin,although it is estimated to be extended in the southeastern(Bhainse),western(Harichaur and northern Sandhikhark)and north-western(Sangboche)parts of the basin.To determine the habitat impact,the environmental variables such as elevation,Bio 15(precipitation seasonality)and Bio 16(precipitation of wettest quarter)highly contribute to habitat change of Himalayan black bear;while Bio 13(precipitation of wettest month)and Bio 15 are the main contributors for common leopard.Overall,this study predicted that the suitable habitat areas of both species are likely to be impacted by climate change at different altitudes in the future,and these are the areas that need more attention in order to protect these species.

Molecular authentication of the traditional Chinese medicine Tongren Dahuoluo Wan and its alternative formulation

Tongren Dahuoluo Wan has been a popular traditional Chinese medicine in international pharmaceutical markets for hundreds of years. Leopard bone powder is the key element in its formulation. However, the leopard has been listed for wildlife conservation, which limits the use of the leopard bone supplies. Therefore, an alternative formulation which substitutes leopard bone with zokor bone in the formula of Tongren Dahuoluo Wan is now manufactured. To develop a simple and reliable molecular method for authenticating the two patent medicines,mitochondrial nucleotide polymorphic sites of 12 S rRNA,COI and Cytb genes were screened in leopard and zokor bones, and nine pairs of species-specific primers were verified for discriminating the two species. For the patent medicine authentication, we set up a molecular diagnostic assay to resolve the difficulties of low concentration of target DNAs and presence of PCR-inhibitory substances in this complex medicine, and successfully confirmed leopard or zokor content using the nine pairs of species-specific primers. We recommend a common technical strategy for authentication of species origins in traditional Chinese medicine, and discuss the experimental solutions for technical problems of molecular diagnostic assays.