Efforts to restore wildlife populations are bearing fruit, with photographs taken from trail cameras confirming the presence of Formosan sambar deer at lower altitudes at Taroko National Park in eastern Taiwan.
National Park Service officials provided the photographs following the completion of a two-year ecological monitoring program led by Weng Guo-jing (翁國精), head of National Pingtung University of Science and Technology’s Institute of Wildlife Conservation.
One of the photographs shows a Formosan sambar deer foraging for food on a mountain slope 661m above sea level, a report by Weng’s research team said.
Photo courtesy of Taroko National Park Headquarters
It was the first time in 15 years that a Formosan sambar deer was sighted at such a medium-to-low altitude, it said.
Researchers visited the site and verified, through an analysis of animal droppings, that the deer had been in the area.
A native species of Taiwan, the Formosan sambar deer is protected by conservation laws. The animals used to be found in mountain forests at altitudes of 300m to 3,500m. However, due to habitat destruction and poaching, their population declined sharply and their range of activity became limited.
In the past decade or so, they have only been seen at altitudes of more than 2,000m, park officials said.
Even at that height, few people have encountered the deer, and most of those who have seen them are veteran hikers who gave the animal a new name — Taiwan’s “mountain’s deity beast,” they said.
The photographs indicate that the native deer species have expanded their range of activity to the eastern section of Taroko National Park, although their main habitat remains in high-altitude forests, the report said.
The ecological monitoring program covered 22km2 area — two abandoned mining sites Dacingshuei (大清水) and Hueide (匯德), at altitudes of 500m to 1,500m. The team set up six voice recorders and 30 trail cameras that do not interfere with wildlife activities and start recording or taking photographs when they detect animal movement.
The report also recorded the presence of other protected native wildlife, including Berdmore’s ground squirrel, red and white giant flying squirrel and Formosan giant flying squirrel.
At a wildlife protection reserve at Mount Cingshuei, there had been sightings of Pallas’ squirrels, Berdmore’s ground squirrels, and the two types of giant flying squirrels, as well as audio recordings of Formosan samba deer, it said.
Most wildlife in the park have become more active and chances of seeing them are higher from March to May and September to November, officials said.
Results from the monitoring program are to be used as a reference for the conservation and management of these animals, while the public can read the report online on Taroko National Park’s Web site, they said.
The Executive Yuan yesterday announced that registration for a one-time universal NT$10,000 cash handout to help people in Taiwan survive US tariffs and inflation would start on Nov. 5, with payouts available as early as Nov. 12. Who is eligible for the handout? Registered Taiwanese nationals are eligible, including those born in Taiwan before April 30 next year with a birth certificate. Non-registered nationals with residence permits, foreign permanent residents and foreign spouses of Taiwanese citizens with residence permits also qualify for the handouts. For people who meet the eligibility requirements, but passed away between yesterday and April 30 next year, surviving family members
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
Taiwanese officials are courting podcasters and influencers aligned with US President Donald Trump as they grow more worried the US leader could undermine Taiwanese interests in talks with China, people familiar with the matter said. Trump has said Taiwan would likely be on the agenda when he is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) next week in a bid to resolve persistent trade tensions. China has asked the White House to officially declare it “opposes” Taiwanese independence, Bloomberg reported last month, a concession that would mark a major diplomatic win for Beijing. President William Lai (賴清德) and his top officials
‘ONE CHINA’: A statement that Berlin decides its own China policy did not seem to sit well with Beijing, which offered only one meeting with the German official German Minister for Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul’s trip to China has been canceled, a spokesperson for his ministry said yesterday, amid rising tensions between the two nations, including over Taiwan. Wadephul had planned to address Chinese curbs on rare earths during his visit, but his comments about Berlin deciding on the “design” of its “one China” policy ahead of the trip appear to have rankled China. Asked about Wadephul’s comments, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Guo Jiakun (郭嘉昆) said the “one China principle” has “no room for any self-definition.” In the interview published on Thursday, Wadephul said he would urge China to
RSS