Pallas's cats are under threat!
Habitat of pallas’s cats in China has been damaged by a wind power project.
Cailongling, Zhangye (Gansu Province), long-term monitoring found one of the densest known wild populations of Pallas’s cats — around 18 individuals per 100 km² in 2022. That number has since collapsed.
A 100 MW wind power project is now under construction right on top of their core area. Several turbine sites overlap with core Pallas's cat activity areas. The project’s environmental assessment claimed there were no protected animals there. Years of camera-trap records show otherwise.
Construction continues. The desert habitat is fragile and hard to restore once roads and foundations are built.
If you care about these cute little wild cats or about better balancing renewable energy with biodiversity, please share this and help look for solutions!
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Honestly, it hurts so much it brings me to tears that because of certain innovations, habitats have to be destroyed. Honestly, I sometimes feel that there are practically no territories where animals are safe.
I still don't really understand what the problem is.
Why are wind turbines dangerous for manuls?
This is awful, honestly. People are taking more and more away from nature(((
anna_yu, A scientific article on this very topic was published not long ago. Scientists in China conducted an interesting study on the impact of wind turbines on the behavior of small predators in Hexi, China.
The scientists recorded a shift in the Pallas's cat's activity patterns, causing its niche to begin overlapping with that of the fox (which is bad). They also found that the Pallas's cat is not tolerant of wind turbines and tries not to settle near them.
Here is the original article.
anna_yu, As I understand it, wind turbines themselves can scare off pikas and other rodents through their vibrations, and birds can also get caught in the blades.
remi ➰️ реми, not to mention that construction destroys numerous burrows and shelters for animals, including manuls.(