Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Correspondence
  • Published:

Protect the Tibetan Plateau’s rich felid diversity

Nature Ecology & Evolution (2025)Cite this article

Subjects

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

Felids, especially large-bodied ones such as the tiger (Panthera tigris) and snow leopard (Panthera uncia), are hypercarnivorous apex predators that have a vital role in regulating prey populations and maintaining ecosystem balance. Of the world’s 39 wild felid species, many are becoming increasingly rare and now serve as flagship species in global biodiversity conservation efforts1,2. The Tibetan Plateau, which is predominantly located within China, is home to 11 felid species and serves as a crucial refuge. To safeguard felids on the plateau, we call for survey efforts (particularly in poorly studied areas) and broader conservation initiatives, particularly in the face of infrastructure development in the region.

The Tibetan Plateau’s rich felid diversity is attributable to its remoteness and diverse landscapes, alongside traditional Tibetan culture and conservation practices2,6,7,8. Tibetans’ deep reverence for nature, a no-killing ethos, and limited access to many areas have provided sanctuaries for wildlife7. However, rapid economic development and large-scale infrastructure projects — such as the Qinghai–Tibet railway, the Sichuan–Tibet railway and the Medog hydropower station on the Yarlung Tsangpo River — risk altering traditional cultures and exerting pressure on wildlife and their habitats2,6,7. These developments, although they will improve local livelihoods, lead to habitat loss, fragmentation and increased human presence, which facilitates illegal hunting and poaching of felids and their prey, and impairs natural ecosystem services due to mammal defaunation. Unfortunately, most felid populations inhabit unprotected areas. For instance, only two county-level protected areas are explicitly designated for felid conservation in Xizang Autonomous Region2, and Xinlong county — despite its rich felid diversity — has only one provincial-level nature reserve focused primarily on wetland ecosystems6, and recommendations to upgrade its conservation status and establish a larger nature reserve have not been implemented9.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Wildlife monitoring using camera traps within China’s part of the Tibetan Plateau.

References

  1. Dickman, A. J., Hinks, A. E., Macdonald, E. A., Burnham, D. & Macdonald, D. W. Conserv. Biol. 29, 854–864 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Lv, Y. et al. Ecosyst. Health Sustain. 10, 0160 (2024).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Lu, Q. et al. Curr. Biol. 33, 647–659.e5 (2023).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Zhang, T. et al. Shou Lei Xue Bao 42, 490–507 (2022).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Wei, F. et al. Shou Lei Xue Bao 45, 1–16 (2025).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Xu, Y. et al. Oryx 56, 137–144 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Ren, Y. et al. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 8, 837–839 (2024).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Li, X. et al. Oryx 55, 177–180 (2021).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Chen, X. et al. Conserv. Biol. 38, e14297 (2024).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Qianzhan. How the hydropower project in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River reshapes Tibet’s industrial ecology and local livelihoods? qianzhan.com https://xw.qianzhan.com/analyst/detail/220/250724-a63e174d.html (2025).

  11. Wang, B. et al. Divers. Distrib. 29, 409–422 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Maxwell, S. L. et al. Nature 586, 217–227 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Liu, J. et al. Biol. Conserv. 290, 110431 (2024).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Song, D. et al. Sen Lin Yu Ren Lei 12, 72–81 (2021).

    Google Scholar 

  15. Xu, Y., Yang, B. & Dou, L. PeerJ 3, e982 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to S. Wang for her earlier literature search. The authors were supported by Sichuan Station of Wildlife Survey and Management, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant 32271736).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Sciences, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, China

    Shang Sheng & Yu Xu

  2. Key Laboratory of Southwest China Wildlife Resources Conservation (Ministry of Education), China West Normal University, Nanchong, China

    Xing Chen, Bin Wang & Biao Yang

  3. Xizang Autonomous Region Research Institute of Forestry Inventory and Planning, Lhasa, China

    Yuan Wang

  4. State Key Laboratory of Animal Biodiversity Conservation and Integrated Pest Management, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Zhixin Wen

Authors
  1. Shang Sheng
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Xing Chen
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Bin Wang
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Yuan Wang
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Biao Yang
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Zhixin Wen
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Yu Xu
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Biao Yang, Zhixin Wen or Yu Xu.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Literature search methods, Supplementary Figure 1, Supplementary Table 1, and Supplementary References

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sheng, S., Chen, X., Wang, B. et al. Protect the Tibetan Plateau’s rich felid diversity. Nat Ecol Evol (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02871-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02871-9

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing