The Toponymic Evidence for the Wild Tiger's Historical Range and Human-tiger Relationship in China
The paper used the evidence of toponyms,applied spatial econometric analy-sis and mathematical statistics method to explore such issues as:(1)the historical distri-bution of the wild tiger in China;(2)the word formation and representation of tiger-related toponyms;(3)the historical evolution in relationship between human beings and the wild tiger;and(4)the wild tiger'sur-vival state,tiger-caused disaster and human's responses.Toponymic evidence indicates that:(1)Historically,the wild tiger mainly distributed in the mountains,valleys and dense forests in east-southern Hunan Province,the middle part of Guizhou Province,the western Hubei Province,and the south part of Liaoning Province as well as the intersection of provincial bor-ders.(2)The wild tiger mainly inhabited in mountainous area covered by dense forest or bushes with relatively lower eleva-tion,relief and gentle slope.Deforestation and farmland expansion resulted in tigers'habitat fragmentation and range com-pression.(3)Habitat destruction and behavioral transition engendered fierce competition for limited survival resources among tiger populations,between the wild tiger and other animals and human beings.The tiger's living condition tended to deteriorate.(4)Before the Sui and Tang dynasties,the number of tiger-related named village was relatively stable and then increased continuously,reaching its peak in the Ming and Qing dynasties.It meant that the conflict between men and tigers was more and more intense and tiger-caused disaster was the joint result of natural and man-made disaster.(5)Since the Ming and Qing dynasties,the advanced hunting technology has made human increasingly aggressive in the conflict between men and tigers,and officially organized hunting has become more frequently,pushing tigers to the brink of extinction.
Villages with tiger-related toponymsHistorical rangeHabitat transitionHuman-tiger relationship
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
维普
