Nature in Korea

The DMZ is a major wildlife habitat but unfortunately public access is severely restricted. There was a sea-lion colony at Hanui beach on Baengnyeondo Island, but again, the beach is heavily fortified & patrolled by armed guards. I've been all over Korea & don't recall too many wildlife habitat reserves. The Upo wetlands were a notable exception (north of Changwon on the south coast) but they're a long way from Seoul.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upo_wetland

There are plenty of squirrels and chipmunk type things on the mountains around Seoul, and paddy fields are the place to go for snakes. There are also deer in the countryside in Gyeonggi Do.

In general: Koreans don't generally seem to care for conserving nature, and the amount of unnecessary development of good wildlife habitat that is happening all over the country is nothing short of scandalous.

Even quiet offshore islands are being unnecessarily concreted over. Riversides are being "tidied up" (ie. from a wildlife perspective, ruined) with concrete banks, and sterile parks are being created so that people can wander along well manicured paths where once decent wildlife habitat stood (eg. along the Nakdong estuary in Busan).

Reedbeds are being cut down, new roads and bridges are appearing everywhere, and almost all of the mudflats on the western side of the country have disappeared, depriving thousands of shorebirds of safe feeding areas during their long migrations.

On a more positive note: the DMZ area remains relatively unspoiled (especially around Cheorwon), go there in winter for Red-crowned and White-naped Cranes, Cinereous Vultures and other interesting birds.

Gangwon province in the north east is also relatively sparsely populated and still has some quiet areas with decent wildlife habitat.

Islands off Incheon (eg. Dokjeok, Socheong and others) are excellent for migratory birds between mid April and the end of May.

Korea is basically a land of wooded mountains interspersed with densely populated and intensively farmed/developed plains. In forests anywhere, you will typically encounter small mammals such as Red Squirrels and Siberian Chipmunks, as well as a decent range of small and medium sized birds.

In the (sadly few) lowland areas that are relatively undisturbed by human activity, you can see Water Deer. Amur Leopard Cats are a possibility, I have seen them on a handful of occasions at Junam Reservoir in the SE; closer to Seoul, the Seosan area is another place to look for them.

Check out the excellent Birds Korea website for some more information about birds and other wildlife (including excellent photos), plus an overview on some of the environmental issues facing Korea.

#3 - There is absolutely no way you saw an Amur leopard cat in Korea. They are exclusive to Eastern Siberia. You probably saw an Asian leopard cat.

Asian Leopard cat
Amur Leopard cat

^ I don't think so. Take a look at the Birds Korea log for Seosan, October 25th 2009, here.

The bottom photo from the October 25th entry is of a cat (labelled in the photo as an Amur Leopard Cat) at Seosan, which is identical to the two different individuals I saw on a few occasions at Junam Reservoir last winter.

The birders I know in Korea (one of whom is the photographer of the cat in the photo I linked) all refer to these animals as Amur Leopard Cats. Should we be calling it something else?

It looks nothing like the "Asian Leopard Cat" in your linked photo, but I am aware that there is considerable regional variation in this widely distributed species.

Perhaps you can send me a link to your information that shows the Amur Leopard Cat is endemic to eastern Siberia?

Sure...try these:
1.
2
3

This site claims P. euptailurus occurs in Korea, and besides, the Amur river isn't that far north...

http://samedi.livejournal.com/336992.html

Edited by: basudin

carruthers, I'm sorry, none of those websites convincingly clears up the situation.

Have you actually seen one of these animals in Korea? I have, and they look EXACTLY like the picture of the Amur Leopard Cat shown in the second website you linked in post #6. You can see that immediately by comparing the photo from the Birds Korea site that I linked in my above post. What did you think of the similarities?

Also going back to your earlier post, the picture you posted of "Amur Leopard Cat" closely resembles the animals here in Korea. Although the animal in that picture is rather more reddish-brown than greyish-brown, but the markings, structure and proportions appear very similar.

It's not only me who thinks that Amur Leopard Cat occurs in Korea. Other contributors to Birds Korea think the same, and they include some well respected bird and wildlife experts.

In your opinion, what are the animals that we are seeing? Also, no offence, but apart from an ability to find some dubious website links, what are your credentials on this topic?

Cheers.

Edited by: dominic77

#7 - That website also says its range extends from Siberia to Indonesia, so it is clearly referring to the Leopard cat in general (Prionailurus bengalensis) and not the sub species (Prionailurus bengalensis euptailurus) as it claims. The Amur river valley is over a thousand miles away as the crow flies.

Dominic- I'm not sure what you find unconvincing about the words 'Distribution-Eastern Siberia'. I have to hold my hand up though, that photo I posted, as I've just checked, was taken in Korea, so unsurprisingly bears an uncanny resemblance to what you've seen! I'm inclined to think it's not the Amur though, rather a mislabelled photo.

I think what you are seeing is an asian leopard cat, purely for the fact that I have never heard any reference stating that the Amur leopard cat exists south of Manchuria. I'm happy to re-evaluate that if you can show me something more scientific than anecdotal evidence from a bird watching website. I don't want to get into an argument about this, but clearly you think you're right, and I think I'm right. One of us is obviously wrong, and it would be nice to authoritatively establish who it is. I checked CITES, but that only gives info on Leopard cats, not the sub species unfortunately.

I have a Masters Degree in conservation Biology by the way, as you asked for credentials.

(I'm genuinely interested in resolving this one way or the other now, for my own curiosity, so hopefully we can keep this friendly...this kind of disagreement has a habit of getting nasty on the TT!) Take it easy.