Study area
The study was carried out in the following areas of the Qinling Mountains (Shaaxi Province, China): Taibai County, Fopin County, Ningshan County, Zhashui County, the mountainous areas of Zhouzhi County, Huyi District, and Changan District (107˚6’ to 109˚42’E, 33˚11’ to 34˚11’N). The study area covered approximately 15,000 km2 (Fig 1). Among these areas, Taibai, Fopin, Zhouzhi and Ningshan are within the range of Giant Panda National Park. In the study area, the main wild mammals include the giant panda, takin, golden monkey, goral, Chinese serow, forest musk deer (Moschus berezovskii ), leopard (Panthera pardus ), black bear (Ursus thibetanus ), muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi ), tufted deer (Elaphodus cephalophus ) and wild boar (Sus scrofa ). Of these, only the numbers of giant panda, takin and golden monkey populations are known, with approximately 350, 5000 and 4000 individuals, respectively(Zhou et al., 2017).