Changes in the Historical and Current Habitat Ranges of Rare Wild Mammals in China: A Case Study of Six Taxa of Small- to Large-Sized Mammals

Through history, the habitats of wild mammals have changed greatly in China. Habitat changes may reflect changes in the environment and human–wildlife conflicts. This study focused on how the habitat changed for six taxa of rare wild mammals (one family, one genus, and four species) in mainland China. Their historical and current habitats were estimated according to their historical and current presence occurrences and three sets of environmental data (climate data, topography data, and human activity data), using the Maximum Entropy Model. Then, spatial statistical methods were used to analyze the changes in their habitats, and how human activities have influenced changes in their habitat. The results suggest that the habitats of all six taxa of mammals have shrunk considerably, compared to their historical ranges. With regards to current or past habitats, on average, 68.3% of habitats have been lost. The Asian elephant, which is facing the most serious habitat losses, has lost 93.1% of its habitat. By investigating the relationship between the changes in habitats and the anthropogenic impacts for each taxa, human activities have an obvious negative influence on mammal habitats. The sensitivity of habitats to human activities varies among different mammals: the tiger, Asian elephant, Bactrian camel, and snub-nosed monkey are more sensitive to human activities than musk deer and Chinese water deer.