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20 August 1984, Volume 4 Issue 3

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A PRELIMINARY STUDY ON THE RIVER DEER POPULATION OF ZHOUSHAN ISLAND AND ADJACENT ISLETS

SHENG Helin, LU Houji

1984, 4(3):  161-166. 

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This paper provides some aspects of field work on the river deer(Hydropotes inormis) population, reproduction and harvest production. The results are summarized as follows.1. Body size. There is no remarkable difference in the body size of both sexes. The greatest skull length of adult males and females are 174.2±4.059mm(n = 20) and 173.8±5.966mm(n = 20), respectively.2. Sex ratio: The sex ratios of females, males of the island population is 1.095(n = l32).3. Age distribution. The age composition of the winter season shows that 47.7% of the river deer were yearlings, 36.5% were 2-year olds,8.3% were 3-year elds, 4.5% were 4-year elds, 5-year and 6-year olds were both 1.5%.4. Sexual maturity. Data on breeding showed that the male river deer were sexually mature at 5-6 months of age and the females at about 8 months of age. The males were found to mature earlier than "the females.5. Breeding season. The wild population of Zhoushan; Island indicated, that the rutting period occurs mainly during December and January. Adult males rut a month earlier than the young ones. The adult and youiid female river deer were found to be pregnant at various stages of gestation. Five out of the 9 adult females taken from February showed embryos, (55.6%), 6 female specimens of March all had developing embryos. None of the 8 young females collected during February were pregnant,,but specimens collected frcm March 1-15 showed that 2 out cf 4 yearlings had embryos, 4 females collected after March 16 were all pregnant.6. Reproduction rate. An examination of the 17 pregnant females based upon viable foetuses showed 52.9% commonly carried twins, 29.4% were triplets, 5.9% carried either single, quadruplet or quintuplet foetuses, respectively, an average of 2.53±0.9432 embryos in 17 female deer. Interviews with hunters showed that up to six fawns have been recorded in one birth which is exceptionally rare.7. Hunting pressure. The harvest period life table shows that the hunting pressure was rather high, the hunting rate were up to 47.7%, especially in the 2-year old age grcoip, the rate was up to 70%. Life expectancy was around one year in all age groups. The instantaneous rate of increase (r) = 0.5443, net reproduction rate(R₀) = 2.7596, mean length of a generation (T) = 1.8648, finite rate of increase(year) (A) = 1.7234, and the population doubling time (year) (t) = 1.2732.8. Survival conditions. Most of the islands lack large and medium sized carnivores, only Zhoushan and 2 other islands have a small population of leopard cats (Felis bengalensis) which may prey on the fawns. The only competition species are the Chinese muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi) of which only a small population exist on the Islands of Zhoushan, Putuo and Cuchiajian. The river deer are good swimmers and have a great ability of migration and expansion through adjacent islets to select and occupy suitable environment to survive, therefore, the natural mortality of the river deer is low.9. Harvest production. During the winter hunting season there are 450 -600 river deer hunted on Zhoushan archipelagos, and around 50 individuals are killed during other seasons as "pests". In summer 150-200 newly born fawns are killed to obtain colostrum for folk medicine. A recent survey shows that the estimated figure of annual kill is, about 650-850.

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ON THE MORPHO-PHYSIOLOGICAL INDICES OF LONG-WINGED BAT IN THE PERIOD OF HIBERNATION

LIANG Renji, XIAO Feng, WANG Mingrong

1984, 4(3):  167-175. 

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The changes of the morpho-physiological indices of the long-winged bat (Miniopterus schreibersii chinensis Thomas) in the period cf hibernation were investigated.Fat coefficient, liver coefficient, relative fatness,hemoglobin content, red blood cell count and red cell diameter of 269 specimens were determined from October 1981 to May 1982. All the specimens were collected from the same cavern but in different months.The results can be summarized as follows:1. In late November when the bats begin to hibeinate all kir.cs cf physiological indices are higher than those of the other months, except that the liver coefficient is higher in December.In the period of hibernation these indices all fall apparently, especially in January to February,In late February stored fat tissue is largely consumed.In late March or early April when they wake up all kinds of the indices are lower than those of other months.These data are presented in Table 1-4 and figs.1-2 respectively.2. It is also mentioned that the change of blood content has taken place by surveying the dividing picture of haemopoiefic cell and the fragility of red blood cells were also tested from winter to sprier(Table 5).

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A PRELIMINARY STUDY OF MAMMALIAN FAUNA IN THE NEOLITHIC SITES OF SOUTH CHINA

ZHANG Minghua

1984, 4(3):  177-185. 

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The paper tries to give a review of evolution of the Neolithic Sites mammalian fauna of South China.It seems that almost all members of the Neolithic mammalian fauna of South China are consisted to be the living species, but it is not similar in the zoogeographical distribution, the animal distribution of the former was more extensive than the latter. For example, more than 2500 years ago, the Asian elephant(Elephas maximus) probably existed in Yangyuan, Hebei; Anyang, Henan; Taian, Shandong etc. which are approximately corresponding to the Lower Huang-he (Yellow river) region, and today its habitat has retreated to a very limited area in the southwest part of Yunnan Province.There is little doubt that the living mammalian fauna of South China was derived from the Holocene mammalian fauna of South China.The evolution is mainly due to two factors: one is the climate which has become cooler and cooler since 2500 years ago. the other is human economic activities which became more deteriorating to many mammalian forms in the latter time.

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THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF WILD BACTRIAN CAMEL IN GANSU

1984, 4(3):  186-186. 

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CHARACTERISTICS OF MAMMAL FAUNA AND ECO-GEOGRAPHY IN BEIJING AREA

ZHANG Jie

1984, 4(3):  187-195. 

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Studies on the mammal ecology had been undertaken from May, 1982 to July, 1983 in Beijing. This paper deals with the characteristics of mammal fauna and eco-geography only.Beijing is located in the northwest of North-China plain, and its mountain area accounts for 62%.The following aspects have been attained. 1. Characteristics of mammal fauna (1) The species are poor in Beijing and unevenly distributed, with a total number of 41 species.(2 ) None of the species are out of the ordinary. The whole fauna is a mixture of the fauna of South China, North China, Inner Mogolia-Xin-jiang and the Pacific monsoon area.( 3 ) Human's economic activities have led to distinct changes of the fauna.2. Characteristics of the Eco-geographyAccording to the composition character of the rodent community and environment, eight types of Eco-geography can be formed.3. The mammal resourses, natural protection as well as rodent damage and population growth were discussed.

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A PRELIMINARY OBSERVATION ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE TUNNEL SYSTEM OF THE CHINESE BAMBOO RAT(RHIZOMYS SINENSIS)

1984, 4(3):  196-196. 

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A PRELIMINARY SURVEY ON RODENTS IN TIAN-MUMOUNTAIN NATURE RESERVE

BAO Yixin, ZHUGE Yang

1984, 4(3):  197-205. 

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The study of rodents was Considered out in 1981 in Mountain West Tian-mu, Zhejiang Province. Four working sites were set up at different altitudes in the mountain range. Fourteen species of Rodentia were captured. Rattus niviventer confucianus, Apodemus sylvatic draco, and Eothenomys mslanogastar colurnus were the dominant species, accounting for 76.89% of the total specimens.It was observed that the number of species decreased as the altitude increased. The species and their relative densities were different in every working site. Excluding house mice and squirrels, the Rodents could be divided into three ecological groups according to their distribution and habitat.The seasonal variation cf the animals' numbers might be affected by the factors of reproductive action, vegetation, elevation, precipitation and temperature. Peaks in the fluctuation curve appeared in March, May and October-November respectively, and the lowest was in August. The number of rodents was higher at the top than at the foot of the mountain from May to October, but it was just the opposite in other months.

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A NEW SPECIES OF TREE MICE FROM YUNNAN, CHINA

WU Deling, DENG Xiangfu

1984, 4(3):  207-212. 

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This paper deals with a new species cf the gents Chiropocomys Peters collected from Yunnan in 1981. The type specimens are deposited in the Ecological Department of Kunming Branch, Academia Sinice, Kurming,Chiropodomys jingdongensis, sp. nov. Holotype. No. 81369, an adult male collected on June 14, 1981, uy authors from Jingdong (alt. 2430m.), Yunnan.Faratypes:Ncs. 81360, 81424, 81433, three adult females collected from the same locality in June, 1981.Specimens examined; A sutadult male and an adult female collected from the same locality.Diagnosis. The new species is similar to C. gliroides, but differs in having larger skull and bulla; at least there are plenty of lateral stiff hairs on the terminal half of tail and they are so long that make the tail feather-like.Remark. The classification of this genus wasn't clear; until the monograph of this genus was published by Musser in 1979. According to Musser who examined 379 specimens obtained from a lot of localities of Indochina and the Malay Archipelage, this genus has contained 5 species occurring from Assam, Burma, Siam, Laos, South China, Annam, to Sumatra, Java, Borneo and Philippines. In the course of making comparison, the following results may be found.First, all known forms living on the islands differ from the new species in size and color. C. karlkoopmani, C. major and C. calamianensis are significantly larger than the new species, nevertheless C. muroides is smaller. The underparts of C. karlkoopmani and C. muroides have pale gray and buffy dark gray, respectively, but that of the new species is white; the tail of the former, basal 1/3 is brown and the rest white, but that of the new species is brown. In addition the upperparts of C. calamionensis is rather bright, bright buffy brown or chestms, end that of the new species is grayish buff-brown.Next, the new species is similar to C. gliroides occurring on the mainland uniquely in size, but the average length of the skull and the bulla is larger. Also, the stiff hairs on the terminal half of the tail for new species are mere plentiful and longer than trat cf the latter just as it's shewn in the figure.So far as we have studied, it can be concluded that the tree mice collected in Jingdong, Yunnan must be a new species,

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A NEW SUBSPECIES OF TYPHLOMYS CINEREUS MILNE-EDWARDS FROM YUNNAN, CHINA

WU Deling, WANG Guanghuan

1984, 4(3):  213-215. 

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This paper deals with a new subspecies of Typhlomys cinereus collected from Yunnan during May-June, 1981.The type specimens are deposited at the Ecological Department of Kunming Branch, Academia Sinica Kunming. It may be described below.Typhlomys cinereus jindongensis subsp.nov.Holotype(No.81339):An adult male,collected on June 19,1981, from Ji-ndong District(alt.2430m.),Yunnan province.Para types. 3 adult males, 5 adult females, collected from the same locality during May-June, 1981.Diagnosis:This race is very simillar in color and general characters to nominated subspecies of Fujian, China, but differs in having decidedly convex upward brain case and more decurved occipital region.Remark;This species has differentiated two subspecies so far, i. e. T.c. cinsreus,Fujian,China and T.c.chapensis,Chapa,Tonkin.The difference between them is in size.The new race is obviously smaller than T. c.chapensis. Also, it differs from T.c.cinereus in skull as mentioned above.

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DENS OF HIMALAYAN MARMOT

¹

1984, 4(3):  216-216. 

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OBSERVATION ON THE ECOLOGY OF MONGOLIAN STEPPE LEMMING LAGURUS PRZEWALSKII BUECHNER

ZHAO Kentang

1984, 4(3):  217-222. 

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From 1978 to 1980, we investigated ecology of Mongolian steppe lemm-ing(Lagurus przewalskii)on the semidesert in Shizhiwang Qi (county), Inner Mongolia.By dissecting 1283 specimens end difsing a lot of beles, we have obtained the following results:1. The best habitat for this lemming is the depression or brush on the dunes in dried river bed.2. The steppe lemmings were fed on fresh grass and seeds. The storage chambers would reach three in number and we once discovered 3650 grams of grass in a single chamber.3. We observed ten holes of this animal,finding that the structure of the hole was rather complicated.There were in each hole three to seven openings,many tunnels,one to three nests,one to three storage chambers,one to three enlarged chambers,which are supposed to be their resting place.4. The breeding season is from the middle of March to September,the most vigorous reproduction time is from April to May and July. The annual average pregnant rate is 51.36%.The number per litter is 3-11. The average number of the embryos is 6.44,and varies with the different age of animals.

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PROGRESS IN MAMMALIAN ECOLOGY IN CHINA

XIA Wuping

1984, 4(3):  223-228. 

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The basis of modern mammalogy before liberation was completely destroyed, because of the Anti-Japanese War. It was, in fact, established only after People's Republic of China was founded. The ecology of mammals was paid close attention to at the very beginning. In the middle cf 50's a great deal of work started, dealing both with the practical problems as relating to agriculture, forestry, medicine and animal husbandry and also with basic theoretical problems. Different work on the following entries is introduced in this paper.I . Autecology of mammals1. Natural history——habitats, focd habit, growth, reprocuctior,home range and family structure.2 . Experimental ecology——gas metabolism, water metabolism, anddaily rhythm.I . Mammalian population ecology.1 . Census of mammals.2 . Seasonal fluctuation of population.3 . Long-term fluctuation of number.4 . Influences of climatic factors cf populations.5 . Age structure of population.III. Studies on mammalian communitiesI,Community structure and species diversity 2 . Succession of mammalian communities IV. The roles of mammals in ecosystem1 . Relations of mammals to vegetations.2 . Energy flowIn conclusion, from a broad point of view, I think, the progress of Chinses mammalian ecology is comparatively healthy and normal. There are certain work in many fields. But not much work is deep enough or highly theoretical, not fitting well to the large territory and geographical complexity of our country, that we must work hard in deepness and broadness, Experimental measures should be used, especially in population ecology studies.The studies of big mammals should be emphasized, either for conservation of endangered species, or for managements of game animals. We are rather backward in such fields.

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ON THE MAMMALS' BONES FROM THE HAN TOMBS IN MAN-CHENG, HOPEI, AND DISCUSSION ON THE FACT OF RAT-EATING IN ACIENT TIME

1984, 4(3):  239-240. 

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