Nature in Korea

I will be staying near Seoul for 1 year. I want to know if it is possible to take a bus or train or something and get out and look for wildlife, or is there no wildlife within say 2 hours of Seoul that I could get to with public transit? I'm not expecting to see tigers, lol, but maybe frogs, snakes, and small wildlife. Curious if any of these things still exist anywhere remotely near Seoul (other than the market!)?

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.

BTW - OP...sorry for hijacking your post!!

I'm genuinely interested in resolving this one way or the other now, for my own curiosity

Me too! :-)

First, about those websites you linked in post #6. The first one is a site I could have made myself at home, and I am certainly no website expert. I don't think we can rely too heavily on its content.

After the words "Distribution: East Siberia", the second website goes on to say "On average, the Leopard Cat is as large as a Domestic Cat, but there are considerable regional differences: in Indonesia the average size is 45 cm (18 in), plus a 20 cm (8 in) tail, while it is 60 cm/40 cm (24/16 in) in the southern Amur region". So is it saying that the Amur Leopard Cat occurs as far south as Indonesia? Or is the text suddenly, and for no apparent reason, referring to the Asian Leopard Cat?

The third website shows a distribution map for the Amur Leopard Cat that does not include the Korean peninsula (but comes close). The distribution maps in Birds of Korea by Mark Brazil (the latest field guide to Korean birds) inform me that I shouldn't be seeing White-backed Woodpeckers in my local forest, but I not only see them there but have seen pairs with recently fledged young, indicating local breeding. Pale Thrush, Yellow-throated Bunting and many other species also shouldn't be on breeding territory around here in summer, according to the maps, but they most certainly are.

What I am saying is that Korea is such an under-recorded area for wildlife in general, and distribution maps should accordingly be taken with a large pinch of salt. As a biologist I am sure you are aware that distribution information is regularly inaccurate ... perhaps especially so for generally secretive and shy mammals like wild cats.

It's still not clear to me what you think those animals that I and others are seeing in Korea actually are. All of the pictures of Asian Leopard Cat I have found online show clear leopard spots on the body. The structure of the Asian Leopard Cat is also different, they have a thinner face, longer and more pointed ears, broad stripes on the tail, and from the pictures appear generally smaller and daintier.

I found some more pictures online, this is one of the actual animals I saw at Junam Reservoir earlier this year. The facial markings appear good for Amur Leopard Cat, as does the lack of leopard spots on the body, the size of the ears and the structure of the face.

I am in no way attempting to undermine your credentials, but you seem to be basing your position on an internet distribution map combined with the fact that you personally have never heard of Amur Leopard Cat occurring further south than Manchuria. I am saying that I have had actual field experience, on three or four occasions, of wild cats in Korea that closely resemble Amur Leopard Cats. They are definitely not Asian Leopard Cats, as any comparison of the photos of the Korean animals and Asian Leopard Cats will tell you.

I too have absolutely no desire to get into an argument over this, but I know what I (and others) have seen in Korea and I must stand by what I believe. It would be good to get to the bottom of it. Perhaps it's some kind of hitherto undocumented subspecies of Amur Leopard Cat?

Cheers.

OK, a contact with much more knowledge of Leopard Cat taxonomy than myself has replied to my email:

"Leopard Cat Prionailurus bengalensis is divided into 11 subspecies:
http://www.biolib.cz/en/taxon/id1987/

..one of which is Amur leopard cat P.b.euptilurus. Which is the one found in Korea.

See http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/18146/0"

Of particular interest on that site is the following: Although one mainland Asian subspecies is generally recognized, the nominate P. b. bengalensis (Kerr, 1792) (Groves 1997), a number of mainland Asian subspecies have been classically described, including the Amur Leopard Cat P. b. euptilurus of the Korean Peninsula, Russian Far East and northeastern China. It was earlier proposed as a distinct species based on morphological differences from southeast Asian specimens, but Chinese specimens were shown to be similar and this is not recognized (Wozencraft 2005).

From my contact's email again:

"*also here:"P.b.euptilurus - Korea, East Siberia"
http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/agarman/bco/lepcat.htm

*Also if you scan down on here:
http://birdsmongolia.blogspot.com/"

I was slightly wrong in that I presumed that Amur Leopard Cat was a separate species from Leopard Cat based on its rather different physical appearance, but it is only a distinctive subspecies. Other than that, it would appear that the cat that I and others have seen in Korea is indeed Amur Leopard Cat.

I hope this has now been resolved to your satisfaction!

Cheers

Edited by: dominic77 to add quotation marks

Yeah ok man...I guess you win! :) I think a lot of confusion lay within the discrepancies of the various sub species and the common names and Latin names. I am happy to be proved wrong by good scientific information. I hope no grudges are held in this regard. I was working on previously held conceptions, and what available evidence I could find. I'm actually really happy that the Amur Leopard cat exists in Korea. It's one more great thing to say about the country I assume we both live in. A good discussion well ended. Nice one dude!!

I was aware that the Amur was a sub species, but wasn't aware that it was on the Korean peninsula.

I'm actually really happy that the Amur Leopard cat exists in Korea

Yeah me too. It says something about their resilience and adaptability, considering the density of the human population in Korea and how systematically the environment is being degraded! :-(

Agreed, it was an interesting discussion ... both sides learned from it I think. Hopefully one or two Amur Leopard Cats will overwinter again at Junam Reservoir and I'll get another opportunity to take a look at these beautiful animals.

Cheers

I wish the discussions on Dave's ESL could be as cordial!

Mostly I am looking for snakes. Have you guys seen any and if so, you can PM if you'd rather, I'd like to know as much locality info as you can remember. I will attempt to refind these locations and search for snakes there.
Thanks!

Only snake I ever saw in Korea was an adder type roadkill in Paju near a rice paddy. It was trying to get from a forested hill to a rice paddy for the frogs.

Just as a precaution... I had read in some old literature about unexploded landmines being in the hills. Does anyone know if this is still an issue?

Well I guess statistically there's probably one or two left out there, but I wouldn't worry about it. It's not like Cambodia or anything.