Rare images of tigers and ferrets captured in the candidate area of ​​Kalamaili National Park in Xinjiang

China News Service, Urumqi, June 15 (Shi Yujiang and Zhang Hefan) Reporters learned from the candidate area of ​​Karamaili National Park in Xinjiang on the 15th that recently, precious images of tigers and ferrets, "terrestrial wild animals with important ecological, scientific, and social values," were captured near the Qiaomu Xibai Management Station.

In the desert ecological chain, tigers and ferrets can be called the "barometer" of the health of the desert ecosystem. Photo by Zhang Hefan

As the "hunters" on the Gobi Desert, tiger and weasel are small in size, about 30 centimeters in length. They are nocturnal and always come out at night. They use their keen sense of smell to shuttle between the desert sands and accurately locate the traces of rodents such as gerbils and jerboas. Relevant research shows that a single tiger and weasel can eat more than a thousand rodents in a year, so it is vividly called the "rat killer." In the desert ecological chain, tigers and weasels can be called the "barometer" of the health of the desert ecosystem.

Pictured is a tiger and a weasel. Photo by Zhang Hefan

"As one of the predators in desert and semi-desert ecosystems, tiger weasels have extremely high requirements for habitat integrity. Its appearance is not only a new record of a species, but also marks that the food chain in the reserve is becoming more complete, and the energy flow between vegetation, rodents, tiger weasels, wolves and other predators has returned to normal. This is living proof of the improvement of biodiversity." said Jin Kun, director of the Natural Reserve Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Forestry. (over)