Xinjiang tiger hand drawing
The Xinjiang tiger is considered to be a branch of the Caspian tiger, and the Caspian tiger has a wide footprint throughout Central asia and West Asia, so it is also known as the Persian tiger, the Caucasian tiger, the West Asian tiger and the Central Asian tiger abroad. Tiger as the largest cat on the earth, scientists believe that there is only one kind of tiger, other tigers distributed around the world are different subspecies, and China is the country with the largest distribution of tiger species, there are Siberian tigers, South China tigers, Indochinese tigers, Bengal tigers, and Xinjiang tigers.
Tigers are believed to have originated in China 2 million years ago, as for the place of origin is still somewhat controversial, the more widely accepted view is that it originated in the south of China, and then gradually spread to Siberia, as well as the whole of Asia, is an endemic animal in Asia. Scientists have found that tigers have been distributed in China's Xinjiang region 10,000-15,000 years ago.
Caspian tiger
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="6" > the mystery of the Xinjiang tiger</h1>
Nowadays, the Caspian sea tiger is one of the three tiger subspecies that are considered extinct, due to historical reasons, coupled with the war-torn years of modern China, people's research on this species is in a blank stage, leaving no individual specimens, the only tiger skin that is believed to be a Xinjiang tiger is preserved in the Stockholm Museum in Sweden, but due to its age, this tiger skin has long lost its original appearance. Human perception of them is only limited to the descriptions of the travel records of some explorers.
The first person to describe the Xinjiang tiger is from the Russian explorer Przewalsky, who came to Lop Nur twice around 1877 and 1885, especially the second arrival, where he saw the scene of the local people hunting tigers, but also saw the real Xinjiang tiger, in his monograph "Towards Lop Nur" specifically described the size of the Xinjiang tiger, the length of the hair, the specific living conditions of the tiger, etc.
Map of the distribution location of the Xinjiang tiger
The person who raised the popularity of the Xinjiang tiger in the world was the swedish explorer Sven Hedin, who found the disappeared ancient city of Loulan in Xinjiang in 1900, and also found the Xinjiang tiger, and announced it together, causing quite a stir, and the only remaining tiger skin was bought at a high price in the local area. This is the only true information that the world knows about the Xinjiang tiger.
The legendary Xinjiang tiger is second only to the Siberian tiger and the Bengal tiger, its body length is generally 1.6 to 2.5 meters, the tail length is about 0.8 meters, and the weight is about 200-250 kg. The main distribution range covers the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, along the valleys and river oases on both sides of the lower Tarim River basin, which are full of reeds, wood trees, poplar forests and other vegetation, which is an ideal habitat for tigers.
The place where the Xinjiang tiger once appeared
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="59" > 1916, the last Xinjiang tiger was killed</h1>
According to some studies by Chinese scholars, from some local historical documents, the number of Tigers in Xinjiang in the early Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty was still objective, although the heyday of the Qing Dynasty stabilized the territory of the western region of Xinjiang, and at the same time a large number of cultivated land was cultivated for agriculture that had a certain impact on the wild population of Tigers in Xinjiang, but it was still common, and the number was significantly reduced between 1899 and 1916.
Between late 1927 and 1928, a German explorer came to Xinjiang to investigate, and a local hunter told him that the last Xinjiang tiger in xinjiang was killed about 12 years ago, that is, around 1916. Therefore, the world believes that the extinction time of the Xinjiang tiger comes from this.
Poplar forests on both sides of the Tarim River Basin
In 1934, Sven Hedin returned to Lop Nur without seeing any trace of the tiger, so he predicted that the Xinjiang tiger was in danger of extinction. Therefore, the international community also believes that the extinction time of the Xinjiang tiger is 1916, although this statement has been questioned by domestic scholars in China. But in any case, during this period, the wild population of the Xinjiang tiger has been greatly reduced, because no one has actually seen it since then.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="60" > what the Xinjiang tiger experienced before its extinction</h1>
According to the research of Chinese scholars, the number of Xinjiang tigers in the short period of less than 20 years from 1899 to 1916 experienced an extinction-like decrease, what happened during this period that caused the king of all beasts occupying the northwestern frontier of China to suffer the disaster?
Siberian Tiger/Siberian Tiger
According to the relevant research of some domestic scholars, the following summary of the irreparable factors about the eventual extinction of the Xinjiang tiger.
Natural factors
The evolution of the natural environment in Xinjiang is the basic factor influencing the historical changes of tigers in Xinjiang, and it is also a fundamental factor. Xinjiang is the only way to go through China's ancient Silk Road, which has played a huge role in promoting the prosperity of ancient China, as evidenced by the glorious past of the former Loulan Ancient Country. The Tarim River basin has flowed for more than a thousand years, and the rich water environment has created lush oases on both sides of the river and a rich vegetation environment.
However, due to changes in the environment, the Tarim River has been raised by the silt accumulation of the riverbed, and the Rayi River, a small fork flowing northward, has rapidly and naturally expanded under the wash of the great flood, resulting in the diversion of the Tarim River to the north, resulting in the depletion of the lower reaches of the Tarim River, the shrinking or drying up of the lakes, the drying up or death of reeds and poplar forests on both sides, the rapid reduction of wild animals and plants, the extreme deterioration of the environment on which the Xinjiang tiger depends, and the consequent reduction of the population.
Bengal tigers
Human factors
Human factors have a lot of influences, and the main factors are as follows.
Reclamation
The Central Dynasty's reclamation of the Western Regions can be traced back to the Han Dynasty and reached its peak during the Qing Dynasty. After winning the victory in the Dzungar War, the Qing government vigorously developed reclamation in order to consolidate the frontier and ensure the supply of military food. The vast vegetation-rich desert oases of the Tarim River Basin have become the first choice, and a large number of poplar and red willow forests have been cut down, which has further aggravated the reduction of tiger habitat environment.
Hunting activities
Due to the widespread hunting customs of the local Lop Nur people, especially taking pride in hunting large animals, tigers became their first choice. According to some local historical records, the tigers hunted were not used for food, but for sale, tiger skins were used to make cold, and tiger bones were used for medicinal purposes.
Tarim River Basin
Other possible causes
Many sources mention an interesting phenomenon described by locals, which may also be one of the reasons for the decline of wild Xinjiang tigers. A ferocious ant in Xinjiang that often attacks tiger cubs makes it difficult for their cubs to survive. Although this may seem a bit incredible, but it is not made up out of thin air, after field investigation by scholars, this ant is slightly larger than the average ant, and they will flock to the place where they find animal corpses or animal calves in the jungle, devouring the flesh and blood of dead bodies or the amniotic fluid of animals.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="71" > after the extinction of the Xinjiang tiger</h1>
The disappearance of the Xinjiang tiger is so rapid that after the founding of New China, people have gradually paid attention to such big cats, not only the Xinjiang tiger, but also China's endemic tiger species, the South China tiger, etc., have fallen into a critically endangered situation, and the South China tiger has become extinct in the wild. In fact, since it was said to be extinct in 1916, there are still many rumors about tiger tracks in Xinjiang.
According to some data, in 1951, military reclamation fighters also saw a tiger in the Aksu poplar forest reclamation area; in 1962, a large team of Xinjiang geological expeditions encountered tigers preying on Tibetan wild donkeys while working in Hongliugou, which may be the last record of Xinjiang tigers in modern times.
In March 2010, a scientific expedition team composed of domestic environmental, ecological, grassland and forestry scholars entered Xinjiang to conduct environmental investigations, and they had a mission to visit the places where the Xinjiang tiger once appeared, as well as the legends related to the tiger, trying to trace the possible traces of this former king of all beasts, but unfortunately, the miracle did not appear after all, and people gradually accepted the fact that the Xinjiang tiger was extinct.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="61" > end</h1>
Scholars in China have disputed whether the Xinjiang tiger is a branch of the Caspian tiger. Caspian tigers mainly inhabit the dense forests of countries around the Caspian Sea, while the Xinjiang tiger is mainly distributed in one of the driest regions of China, and the two obvious living environments are different, which is one of the reasons; another reason is that according to limited data, the morphological characteristics of the Xinjiang tiger are still very different from those of the Caspian tiger, mainly because the color of the stripes is lighter than that of the Caspian tiger. Therefore, it is believed that the Xinjiang tiger may be an independent subspecies of tiger.
However, since there are no specimens to carry out relevant research, all of these are only speculations of some scholars, and there is no clear evidence to support it, which has to be said to be a major loss in the study of animal history in China.