Shen Gong...Gong...What animals are the true forms of the leopard family?

With the popularity of "Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King", many characters in the film have also become popular. Among them, Shen Gongbao's reputation has been rising steadily, which has aroused empathy.

Image source: "Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King" official Weibo

In the movie, the appearance of Shen Gongbao's father and brother makes the story worldview more complete, and the personalities and words of the two characters have also resonated with many people. Today we will take a look at the true identity of Shen Gongbao's family. What kind of animals are they?

What kind of leopard is Shen Gongbao?

First of all, there are many animals in the cat family called "such and such leopard", but the true leopard is only one species, the leopard ( Panthera pardus ), which is what we usually call leopard, leopard or leopard.

Leopard, photographed by the author at Shijiazhuang Zoo

In taxonomy, leopards belong to the genus Panthera of the cat family, which also includes the familiar lions and tigers, as well as snow leopards ( Panthera uncia ) and jaguars ( Panthera onca ).

It is easy to distinguish them. The snow leopard is grayish white in color, while the leopard has hollow spots on the sides of its body. The spots on the sides of the jaguar are solid, and its body is more sturdy.

At this point, some people may think of the cheetah, which is an independent genus of Acinonyx, very distantly related to the leopard. It also has more slender legs, and the spots on the sides of its body are solid black. It is not a leopard.

Cheetah specimen, photographed at the National Museum

Among the members of the Panthera genus, leopards are the most widely distributed. Their homes range from the snowy forests on the border between China and Russia to the rainforests of Indonesia, from the high-altitude Iranian Plateau and the edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to the Congo Basin, and from the urban suburbs of Mumbai, India to the open wilderness of South Africa.

Today, the leopard is one of the three major Panthera species in China, the other two being the snow leopard and the tiger. Given such a wide distribution area, are there any subspecies of leopards? The answer is yes. Currently, it is believed that there are 9 subspecies of leopards - Javan leopard, North China leopard, Sri Lankan leopard, Indian leopard, Far Eastern leopard, Indochinese leopard, Arabian leopard, African leopard and Persian leopard.

The largest leopard subspecies - Persian leopard, source Wikipedia

Model of the North China leopard subspecies, photographed at the National Museum of Zoology

Because the stories in Investiture of the Gods take place in China's Central Plains and its surrounding areas, which is exactly the habitat or historical distribution area of ​​the North China leopard subspecies, Shen Gongbao's family is a subspecies of the North China leopard ( Panthera pardus japonensis ).

If you want to find the North China leopard, you need to go to Shanxi Province, the northwest of Henan Province, Hebei Province, Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia and Sichuan, and the forests on the edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Here, they are one of the largest carnivores. The Yangtze River Basin and the south are also the historical distribution area of ​​the North China leopard, but there have been no definite records in the past 20 years.

The yellow area in the picture is the historical distribution area of ​​leopards. The area within the two dotted lines is the distribution area of ​​North China leopards. The Indian area in the lower left corner is the Indian leopard subspecies. The Yunnan Province in the lower middle to Thailand and Myanmar is the Indochinese leopard subspecies. The area in Northeast China is the Far Eastern leopard subspecies.

Note: The Far Eastern leopard is mainly distributed in Northeast China and Russia. Its number is very small but is recovering under protection. Some scholars believe that the Far Eastern leopard and the North China leopard are the same subspecies.

Amur leopard, source: Wikipedia

Who are Shin Jeong-do's disciples?

In the play, Shen Gongbao's father, Shen Zhengdao, possesses lightning magic and is accompanied by many small animal monsters. So who are his apprentices? Let's take a closer look.

In the film, when the little monsters were practicing with bamboo poles, and when the Yuxu Palace team was trying to catch them, the movie gave some shots of Shin Jeong-do and the little monsters around him.

The desert cat monster is in the lower right corner

For example, the cat demon with yellow pointed ears and a relatively long tail. This little guy looks a bit like the desert cat ( Felis bieti ), a species endemic to China.

Cats are not as their name suggests. Their main habitat is not arid deserts, but relatively humid meadow grasslands, Qilian Mountains and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, western Sichuan Province, etc.

Real desert cat

Image source: http://museum.ioz.ac.cn/species_detail.aspx?id=26633

When it was about to be caught, a black minotaur appeared. Due to its small size, long black hair and horns, it might be the common domestic yak.

Domestic yak, gray wolf cub, yellow-gray wolf cub

As common domestic animals in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and other places, they are much smaller than their wild relatives, the wild yaks, weighing between 200 and 400 kilograms. Compared with wild yaks, many domestic yaks also have different colors.

Domestic yak, source: Wikipedia

This domestic yak is accompanied by a yellow-gray member with dog-like ears. It may be a wild gray wolf. Its yellow-gray fur color is the color of common wild wolf packs in China.

On the other side is the white domestic goat ( Capra hircus ) , which was domesticated from the wild goat ( Capra aegagrus ) in western Asia. Its coat color has changed from brown-gray before domestication to white, creating a new trait.

Gray wolf, cattle and goat

Wild goat, source Wikipedia

There is also a yellow cow here, which is the common domestic cattle ( Bos taurus ). The old yellow cattle and dairy cows we usually see belong to the species of domestic cattle. Their ancestors were primitive cattle that were active in Europe, western Asia and northeastern Asia. Ten thousand years ago, people in the Mesopotamian region domesticated primitive cattle ( Bos primigenius ) into domestic cattle, and many domestic cattle breeds were born in the history of human civilization.

Wild primitive cattle, source: dinoanimals.com

There is another gray wolf in the movie, which is a darker silver-gray color, which is more common among wolves in North America.

Wild boar behind the domestic yak

The film also gives a shot of a wild boar behind the domestic yak. ​​To be precise, it is the Chinese subspecies ( S. s. moupinensis ) of the Eurasian wild boar ( Sus scrofa ), which is common from eastern China to Vietnam.

The present and future of Shen Gongbao's family

Back to Shen Gongbao, the tigers in the area where the North China Leopard is distributed have become extinct, so the fearless North China Leopard hunts local wild boars, Siberian roe deer, Qinling gazelles and Chinese serows in its own territory. Sometimes it also eats small prey such as Mongolian rabbits, or small carnivores such as red foxes.

Siberian roe deer and young wild boar, photographed at the National Zoological Museum

However, they are still facing a survival crisis. Some unreasonable habitat development and poaching activities have left them helpless, and the fragmentation of habitats has made it difficult for "Shen Xiaobao" to find a suitable habitat to survive after they grow up.

The isolation of their habitat means that they cannot leave their hometown, so they will be "involuted" in the block habitat, with limited food and activity range. The population is isolated, which leads to a lack of fresh blood, and then genetic diversity is damaged due to inbreeding.

Based on the research of Li Sheng's team in 2024, many of the habitats of the North China leopard are "small groups" of less than 50 individuals living in isolated "ecological islands."

Suitable habitat range for North China leopards

The redder the color, the more suitable it is for them to live.

They passed by, source: sciTech daily

Snares are also a problem. Domestic dogs and cattle are attacked by North China leopards when they enter their range, and humans are unwilling to accept the losses, which leads to conflicts between humans and leopards.

Today, under the influence of human activities, North China leopards prefer to go to high-altitude areas where humans are relatively less active during the day, and move to low-altitude areas at night when human activities are less. Based on relevant records in Heshun, Shanxi, they also hide from livestock guarded by people.

Leopards have changed under the influence of humans, but what can we humans change ? In the southwestern distribution area of ​​the North China leopard's habitat, the Giant Panda National Park has taken certain protective measures. In other places, such as the Old Leopard Team in Shanxi Province, community protection for North China leopards has been carried out. Local people in the distribution area of ​​North China leopards have started the "escort" action for leopards.

In addition, the public welfare activity of "paying steak for leopards" has eased the conflict between humans and animals, and the "bringing leopards home" plan is also underway, hoping to allow leopards to spread naturally and return to their historical distribution areas such as western Beijing. At the same time, the construction of ecological corridors provides a safe channel for the migration and spread of leopards, and the leopard spread monitoring can grasp their dynamics in real time to ensure the effective implementation of protection measures.

Local forest ranger, source: globaltimes

North China leopard recorded in Qinghai Province, source: Xinhua News Agency

References

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New farmlands threaten the North China leopard

Xianghong Dong and Tao Ju Authors Info & Affiliations

Science 22 Jun 2023 Vol 380, Issue 6651 p. 1230 DOI: 10.1126/science.adi7209 Author: Daqing Shenlong

Student member of Shanghai Science Writers Association

Editor: Dong Xiaoxian

Reviewer: Zhang Chao, Li Peiyuan