http://www.ecns.cn/2017/03-03/247740.shtml

China plans to build a national park 60 percent larger than Yellowstone National Park as a sanctuary for highly-endangered Siberian tigers and Amur leopards.

The Jilin provincial forestry department said on Thursday that the national park plan has been approved by the central authorities. It is designed to encompass 14,600 square km in northeastern provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang, bordering Russia’s Primorsky.

With a logging ban in full effect in northeast China since April 2015 and decades of natural protection efforts, the number of tigers has rebounded. Experts estimated that there are currently five wild Siberian tiger families, or 27 in total, living in Jilin.

However, space limitations within nature reserves in China and Russia have restricted the natural growth of the species in the wild.

Ge Jianping, deputy director of Beijing Normal University and a tiger expert, said there are at least 35 tigers and 70 leopards in protected areas covering 4,000 square km. The area is far from enough space to accommodate the wild carnivores.

dv said:

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/03-03/247740.shtml

China plans to build a national park 60 percent larger than Yellowstone National Park as a sanctuary for highly-endangered Siberian tigers and Amur leopards.

The Jilin provincial forestry department said on Thursday that the national park plan has been approved by the central authorities. It is designed to encompass 14,600 square km in northeastern provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang, bordering Russia’s Primorsky.

With a logging ban in full effect in northeast China since April 2015 and decades of natural protection efforts, the number of tigers has rebounded. Experts estimated that there are currently five wild Siberian tiger families, or 27 in total, living in Jilin.

However, space limitations within nature reserves in China and Russia have restricted the natural growth of the species in the wild.

Ge Jianping, deputy director of Beijing Normal University and a tiger expert, said there are at least 35 tigers and 70 leopards in protected areas covering 4,000 square km. The area is far from enough space to accommodate the wild carnivores.

The lack of genetic diversity for one reason.

China plans to build a national park 60 percent larger than Yellowstone National Park as a sanctuary for highly-endangered Siberian tigers and Amur leopards.

China has a tendency to do that. Go overboard. We’ve seen it before in the cultural revolution, “war against the four pests”, one child policy, and panda protection.

Ge Jianping, deputy director of Beijing Normal University and a tiger expert, said there are at least 35 tigers and 70 leopards in protected areas covering 4,000 square km. The area is far from enough space to accommodate the wild carnivores.

Lat’s see, at a land price of say $1000 per hectare, each tiger and leopard is now the proud owner of 14 million dollars worth of land. Even at a land price of $100 per hectare, that’s still a lot of money. But I suppose it’s of the same order as the cost of airbags per life saved.

mollwollfumble said:

China plans to build a national park 60 percent larger than Yellowstone National Park as a sanctuary for highly-endangered Siberian tigers and Amur leopards.

China has a tendency to do that. Go overboard. We’ve seen it before in the cultural revolution, “war against the four pests”, one child policy, and panda protection.

Ge Jianping, deputy director of Beijing Normal University and a tiger expert, said there are at least 35 tigers and 70 leopards in protected areas covering 4,000 square km. The area is far from enough space to accommodate the wild carnivores.

Lat’s see, at a land price of say $1000 per hectare, each tiger and leopard is now the proud owner of 14 million dollars worth of land. Even at a land price of $100 per hectare, that’s still a lot of money. But I suppose it’s of the same order as the cost of airbags per life saved.

Not sure why you are having a go at the Chinese on this one. We have plenty of National Parks round Sydney and Melbourne, where I’m sure the land value is way higher, and they don’t even have one leopard or tiger.

The Rev Dodgson said:

mollwollfumble said:

China plans to build a national park 60 percent larger than Yellowstone National Park as a sanctuary for highly-endangered Siberian tigers and Amur leopards.

China has a tendency to do that. Go overboard. We’ve seen it before in the cultural revolution, “war against the four pests”, one child policy, and panda protection.

Ge Jianping, deputy director of Beijing Normal University and a tiger expert, said there are at least 35 tigers and 70 leopards in protected areas covering 4,000 square km. The area is far from enough space to accommodate the wild carnivores.

Lat’s see, at a land price of say $1000 per hectare, each tiger and leopard is now the proud owner of 14 million dollars worth of land. Even at a land price of $100 per hectare, that’s still a lot of money. But I suppose it’s of the same order as the cost of airbags per life saved.

Not sure why you are having a go at the Chinese on this one. We have plenty of National Parks round Sydney and Melbourne, where I’m sure the land value is way higher, and they don’t even have one leopard or tiger.

I wasn’t a fan of Steve Irwin’s style but I approved wholeheartedly of his inent.

Did you know that one of the National Parks in China is named “Jurassic Park”. I’m not kidding.

mollwollfumble said:

Did you know that one of the National Parks in China is named “Jurassic Park”. I’m not kidding.

There’s possibly a reason for it. There are a lot of fossils in China.

dv said:

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/03-03/247740.shtml

China plans to build a national park 60 percent larger than Yellowstone National Park as a sanctuary for highly-endangered Siberian tigers and Amur leopards.

The Jilin provincial forestry department said on Thursday that the national park plan has been approved by the central authorities. It is designed to encompass 14,600 square km in northeastern provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang, bordering Russia’s Primorsky.

With a logging ban in full effect in northeast China since April 2015 and decades of natural protection efforts, the number of tigers has rebounded. Experts estimated that there are currently five wild Siberian tiger families, or 27 in total, living in Jilin.

However, space limitations within nature reserves in China and Russia have restricted the natural growth of the species in the wild.

Ge Jianping, deputy director of Beijing Normal University and a tiger expert, said there are at least 35 tigers and 70 leopards in protected areas covering 4,000 square km. The area is far from enough space to accommodate the wild carnivores.

Thought I’d check up how many of these animals there are in other areas. Siberian tiger is a subspecies of course, not a full species.

There are 562 wild Siberian tigers in Russia at last count. How many in Mongolia and Korea?

The Amur Leopard is found in Russia and China. There were 26 or fewer in the world in 2007, now calculated to be between 60 and 70. But if there are 70 in China, as the OP says, then how many are in Russia? 57 apparently. The OP claim of 70 in China is in direct conflict with what Wikipedia claims.

Land value isn’t the best way to determine if this a worthwhile project, land is far overpriced almost everywhere.

Cymek said:

Land value isn’t the best way to determine if this a worthwhile project, land is far overpriced almost everywhere.

True, but animals don’t need huge acreages unless they’re migratory. It’s a fantastic idea to have a huge national park, but don’t blame its origins on just 105 animals.

From 2015 “In an amazing tale of recovery, Amur leopard populations have more than doubled in just seven years. New census data reveals Amur leopards in Russia’s Land of the Leopard National Park now number at least 57 cats (up from just 30 cats in 2007). And an additional 8-12 leopards were counted in adjacent areas of China.”

I take it that that the claim of “70 Amur leopards in China” from the OP is wrong. Either that or there are far more of these extremely endangered animals than we’ve been led to believe.

The Amur leopard, like the Siberian Tiger, is a subspecies. So there’s no difficulty in recovering the Amur Leopard by breeding it with Panthera pardus This species has 27 separate metapopulations, which have at one time or another been considered to be separate subspecies. For example, there are about 100 “North-China leopards” kept in zoos worldwide, the population in the wild is unknown according to the Red List of Threatened Species from 2016. There is already a European Endangered Species Program for the North China Leopard in which roughly 60 individuals are participating. North China Leopards live in the exact same type of environment as the Amur Leopards.

According to Wikipedia’s map https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Amur_Leopard_distribution.PNG there are also some Amur leopards in North Korea. But presumably nobody has counted them. Yeah. What I get from the web is that all the WWF knows is that there are probably Amur Leopards in North Korea.

mollwollfumble said:

Cymek said:

Land value isn’t the best way to determine if this a worthwhile project, land is far overpriced almost everywhere.

True, but animals don’t need huge acreages unless they’re migratory.

Yea, apex predators do well on an acre or two…

I recall reading that the NK DMZ was a haven for amongst other things, the Amur leopards and Japanese red headed crane.

War, Good God!
What is it good for?
Providing a narrow preservation area for endangered felids, listen to me

dv said:

War, Good God!
What is it good for?
Providing a narrow preservation area for endangered felids, listen to me

Agree. It’s better to generate the preservation area with a spill of radioactivity.

Imagine living in a world of numbers where nothing else matters.

PermeateFree said:

Imagine living in a world of numbers where nothing else matters.

Methinks Pythagoras did.

Here’s a moral question.

If the Amur leopard goes extinct, would you repopulate the region with North China leopards from the mountains behind Beijing?

I would. I’d even be inclined to start the repopulation before the Amur leopard goes extinct, to ensure sufficient genetic diversity for survival.

mollwollfumble said:

Here’s a moral question.

If the Amur leopard goes extinct, would you repopulate the region with North China leopards from the mountains behind Beijing?

I would. I’d even be inclined to start the repopulation before the Amur leopard goes extinct, to ensure sufficient genetic diversity for survival.

Things usually go extinct for a reason. What would be different with the North China leopards?