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Li-Yuan Liu

  • Biodiversity Journal, 2 (4): 171-178

    Li-Yuan Liu
    Evidence of the existence of the wild tiger Panthera tigris amoyensis (Hilzheimer, 1905) in South China (Mammalia, Felidae)

    ABSTRACT
    Wild South China Tigers, Panthera tigris amoyensis (Hilzheimer, 1905), with no authenticated sighting since more than twenty-five years, are generally considered extinct. On October 3rd 2007 a villager from Zhenping County in Shaanxi Province of China, claimed to have taken a set of photos of a wild tiger in the Daba Mountain. However, the photos aroused suspicion. We already published a paper to prove that in those photos the tiger was a 3-dimensional, animate object. In the present paper further analyses are reported to support the authenticity of such a photos. A short “video” had been recorded in a photo by the digital camera, in which the tiger was lowering its head and raising its tail while the photo had been taken. The tiger always turned its head following the photographer. Special bunches of glisten from the forehead of the tiger resulted to be formed by the light of camera’s flash reflected from the eyeball of the animal. Many collected evidences suggested that there are about eight tigers living in the Daba Mountain. Although tigers appeared frequently in the neighborhood of Daba Mountain this year, unfortunately, these animals have not been protected at all. We hope that confirming the authenticity of the photos will promote a national complete conservation program to save this important subspecies from extinction.