Unexpected Encounters with Wildlife Animals in Shennongjia

Text by Tian Meng,Wang Pin &Wang Xin Photos by Shennongjia National Park Administration

Shennongjia National Park enjoys its reputation as one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world.In the verdant mountains and limpid waters,the wildlife is playing,chasing,and living among the misty clouds and mythical valley.Occasionally the fun lives of the wild animals are unveiled in front of us,if we are lucky enough.

Bears Caught Stealing Honey

Black bears that stole honey from beehives were captured on cameras twice in the Guanmenshan Scenic Area,Shennongjia.

In August of 2020,a black bear went down from the mountain to the beehives.It walked around one of the beehives,smelling,and then began to tear it.A moment later,it pushed over the hive,and was startled by the loud sound when the hive hit the ground.The bear hid itself for a while,and then continued to tear the fallen hive.Unfortunately,the hive was too firm for the bear to open it,and all the bees were now attacking the intruder.The bear had to give up and run away.

On September 17,2019,at the same spot,another 3 bears,one big and two small,were also captured by camera when they stole some honey.

Rangers find a king rat snake during their patrol (Photo by Zhang Ligen)巡护路上发现王锦蛇 （张立根 摄）

Newly hatched jays in a nest (Photo by Liu Peng)嗷嗷待哺的松鸦幼鸟 （刘鹏 摄）

Sika Deer Drinking Water

On May 26,2020,in Qianjiaping (core area of Shennongjia),the park rangers captured a sika deer drinking water and enjoying leisure time for the first time on drone camera.The sika deer are on the list of first-class national protection.

In the video clip,a begonia-surrounded lake resembles an eye watching the sky.Two tiny spots were moving slowly beside the lake,and when the ranger zoomed in,he found they were a pair of sika deer drinking water and walking.Then the deer noticed the drone.They discreetly looked at it,and then hopped swiftly from the waterside into the bush.

The park rangers marked the location and visited the lake themselves.

“Look,these are the sikas’ footprints.The mud beside the water is softer;and this make the prints very obvious,” said Guo Yongbing,deputy chief engineer of Shennongjia National Park Administration,who pointed to the waterdrop-shaped artiodactyl prints on the mud.

“These are the prints left by the deer when they returned from the lake,and those are the prints leading to the lake.This is obviously a deer path.”

Rescue of a Crested Goshawk

“It has brown plumes,a crooked beak,and sharp claws.I’m not sure what kind of eagle or hawk it is.”

On September 24,Wang Guangxiang,a villager from Longkou Village,Xinhua Township,Shennongjia,reported that an unknown large bird had fallen behind his house.

Wang said that he had thoughtthe bird would fly away after a short while,but the bird just lay there,occasionally fluttering its wings,trying in vain to fly.He then thought the bird might be injured,and contacted Xinhua Forestry Station for help.The staff of the station went to Wang’s house and recognized the bird as a crested goshawk,a species in the list of second-class national protection.

The goshawk has a wingspan of 70 cm and a body length of 45 cm.It is a predatory bird,and is listed as a rare species byThe Red Book of China’s Endangered Animals.The forestry station staff took good care of the bird,and released it when it recovered.

The Sleeping Serow

Liu Peng was on his routine patrol with colleagues of Shennongding Management Center on March 29,2020,when he saw an animal huddling itself up beneath a pine tree on a hillside.It was too far away for Liu to see what kind of animal it was.The animal did not move a bit,and Liu and his colleagues thought it might need help.They then got close silently,only to find it was a sleeping serow.

The serow was soundly sleeping—they could hear its even breath.Liu took a picture of it before they left the animal to its repose.

Little Cute Jays in the Nest

It was hot on May 30,2020.Liu Peng was on his way back from patrol,and he stopped by Yumaojian to wait for his colleagues to come down from the mountain.Liu happened to look down below the path,and saw several red stuffs on a crotch of a tree.He went close to find these newly hatched jays in a nest,who stretched their necks,twittering,mistook him as their returned mom.

Liu took out his phone,turned of its flash,and took a picture of them.He also quickly recorded the monitoring data of these young jays with PDA,and then retreated to a distance to watch.Before long he saw the mother fly back home with food in her beak.

The Snakes We Met

Like many other Chinese,people in Shennongjia call the snakes “long worms.” These goosebumpgiving “worms” look fearsome,but for the rangers of Muyu Management Center,some of them can also be friends.During their patrol in the end of May,2020,they encountered 4 such friends in 5 days.

The “long worms” they met are called king rat snakes.Many local people are familiar with this kind of snake,which they call the “cauliflower snake” or “monarch snake.” King rat snakes are blackbrown with yellow patterns on their topside,and yellowish coloration on their underside,with black spots (which are thought by some people to resemble cauliflowers) on both sides.These “kings” prey on many kinds of poisonous snakes including deinagkistrodon.A local saying goes,“Under king rat snakes’ eaves,not a single viper lives.” These snakes have a great value for research,and are worth our protection.

Through close contact and careful observation,the rangers found all the four snakes were in good health.

A Big Bear in the Wild

Rescue of a crested goshawk凤头鹰误闯农家获救助

A sika deer captured on drone camera (Photo by Li Kaiyu)无人机野外巡护偶遇野生梅花鹿 （李开宇 摄）

On August 26,2020,five staff members from Pingqian Management Center were on patrol.They were walking on a very narrow path on the rugged mountain ridge.Sun Ce and Wang Mingpeng led the way,while other colleagues followed them from about 20 meters behind.

“Hey,did you see that,Wang?” Sun Ce said,“There’s a shadow 50 meters ahead of us.” He thought it was a man in a straw cape,and greeted,“Hello there,my friend!”

Mountain mists of Shennongjia (Photo by Zheng Dan)云深不知处（郑丹 摄）

The shadow suddenly stopped moving,and turned out to be a big black bear,about 100 kilograms in weight by their estimation.They were so excited and shocked that they even forgot to take pictures.The bear soon fled into the forest before the other colleagues caught up.Sun depicted the scene to them in great excitement,as if he was a fan talking of his favorite idol.

The strict protection policy implemented for decades now has resulted in the gradual recovering of the forest areas in Shennongjia,and the number of animals keeps increasing.The recovering forest coverage is a positive signal to mark the improvement of wildlife habitats in the area,which directly benefits all the animals that live there.