Abstract
In the last few decades China has undergone significant socio-economic changes, with potential negative implications for wildlife populations, particularly large mammals in rural areas, due to development and expansion of agricultural practices. White-lipped deer (Przewalskium albirostris Przewalski, 1883), endemic to China and listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, have never been formally surveyed and the majority of observations were documented over 25 years ago. This oversight raises the question of whether white-lipped deer populations persist, especially at the edges of their global range. We document recent observations of white-lipped deer in Gansu and Sichuan, at the northern and southern limits of their currently accepted global range. Furthermore, analysis of faecal distribution across the landscape in Sichuan showed that the white-lipped deer overlap with domestic livestock, leading to the potential for resource competition between the wild and domestic ungulates. Comprehensive distribution surveys are required throughout China to aid successful conservation action for the threatened white-lipped deer.
Acknowledgments
We thank Sun Qiaoqi, Dai Kui, Pan Guoliang, Mr. Wang Minghai and Mr A. Cheng for their assistance in the field. The work was supported by the State Forestry Administration of China and grants from the Mohammed Bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, The Starr International Foundation and Robertson Foundation. JA is supported by a scholarship from the China Scholarship Council.
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