Tourists take photos of the rare animal clouded leopard in Mount Huangshan? Scenic Area: There were clouded leopards in the area | Mount Huangshan | clouded leopards
On August 12, a netizen took a video to reflect that a mysterious animal was photographed on Mount Huangshan Mountain in Anhui Province, and many netizens thought it was a national first-class protected animal clouded leopard. On the 13th, the staff of Mount Huangshan Scenic Area responded to the reporter that there was a clouded leopard in the local area, but it would not normally appear in such a crowded place. Animal experts also stated after watching the video that the animal in the video should not be a clouded leopard.
"What kind of animal is this seen on the top of Mount Huangshan Mountain? Some people say it is clouded leopard, mountain cat, lynx..." On August 12 and 13, a netizen released two videos in a row, which attracted netizens' attention and heated discussion.
The video taken by the netizen shows that a yellow animal freely jumps and walks between the landmark stones and pines in Mount Huangshan Mountain. It seems that the onlooking and shooting of tourists tens of meters away did not frighten it. Tourists are discussing what kind of animal this is, and some say it's a cat. However, when people around it retorted, "How could there be such a big cat?"
Mysterious animals photographed by tourists on Mount Huangshan
In the video comment area, some Anhui netizens thought it was Mount Huangshan clouded leopard, "we Mount Huangshan people saw a lot when we were young". This comment received the most praise, but some netizens questioned it, saying that only Yunnan and Xizang have observed wild clouded leopards in the past decade.
The data shows that the clouded leopard has unique cloud like piercings on its back and side, and its fur base color is uniform light yellow to gray. It is distributed in subtropical and tropical forest areas in China, limited to Qinling Mountains in Shaanxi, Luoyang in Henan and southern Gansu in the north, Chayu in Xizang in the west, Hainan in the south, Zhejiang and Taiwan in the east. The clouded leopard has a body length of 70-108 centimeters and a weight of 16-32 kilograms. According to the National Key Protected Wildlife List released by the State Forestry and Grassland Administration on February 5, 2021, the clouded leopard is a first-class protected animal in China.
In the afternoon of August 13, the reporter called Mount Huangshan Scenic Area, and the staff said that there was indeed a cloud leopard life in Mount Huangshan Scenic Area and its surrounding areas, but they had not heard of the recent tourists shooting cloud leopards. "There are many people in the scenic area, and the clouded leopard is relatively small in size and generally does not appear in densely populated areas."
Wuhan Zoo Chief Engineer Gao Yanhong said after watching the video that the animal in the video should not be a clouded leopard. Its body size is larger than that of the clouded leopard, and the color of its fur is not the same. Cloud leopards are particularly rare now, and it is difficult to see them in the wild. Even if humans encounter them, they will escape from afar and cannot coexist with humans so close.
Gao Yanhong said that it is difficult to determine the specific animal based on this video, but this animal is not afraid of humans, so it may be captive by humans. He speculates that this may be an animal that has escaped from the surrounding zoo or breeding base, and suggests that tourists keep a distance from it.
