12 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



minated a single mammal, thanks to the protective attitude toward 

 game assumed both by the native rulers and by the British adminis- 

 tration. In China, unfortunately, there seems to be little or no 

 thought of the conservation of wild life on the part of the great mass 

 of the population. 



One of the most decisive factors in the accelerated depletion of 

 the game resources of Asia (and of other continents likewise) 

 during recent years has been the increasing use of modern rifles of 

 high power and precision. This has been especially noticeable in 

 Tibet, according to reports of recent explorers, and also in Arabia. 

 In the deserts of Iraq and Arabia pursuit of gazelles and other 

 animals by motor car has recently become a very serious menace to 

 their survival. 



The Asiatic rhinoceroses, the Saiga Antelope, such large horned 

 ruminants as the Wapiti and other members of the deer family, and 

 even the lowly pangolins, have been victimized in a peculiarly 

 distressing way, merely because of the apparently wholly mythical 

 value of the horns, scales, and other parts of the body in the Chinese 

 pharmaceutical trade. This belief is so deeply rooted that probably 

 no educational campaign would be effective in staving off the 

 extermination of any species at the mercy of the peoples who regard 

 powdered rhino horn, for example, as a panacea. Even in countries 

 far beyond China's borders, protection of rhinoceroses and other 

 species in similar demand is made extraordinarily difficult by the 

 fabulous prices set upon them and by the incentive for poaching 

 under these circumstances. When the last Asiatic rhino is gone, 

 and the fancied benefits from its powdered horn are no longer 

 available, possibly then the tragic fallacy of the whole business 

 will dawn upon those responsible for the extermination of this 

 section of the world's fauna. 



Of fur-bearing animals, probably the highly prized Siberian 

 Sables have been subjected to severest pressure, but the Soviet 

 Government has created several great reserves for their protection, 

 and has maintained a closed season on Sables over the whole terri- 

 tory of the USSR. 



Despite the many-sided attack upon Asiatic mammals for the 

 sake of their meat, hides, fur, horns, scales, and even raw body 

 fluids that continent has exterminated to date, as far as known, 

 only three forms: the Japanese Wolf (Canis hodophilax), the 

 Syrian Wild Ass (Asinus hemionus hemippus) , and Schomburgk's 

 Deer (Rucervus schomburgki) . 



There are a number of others, however, for which the same fate 

 is more or less imminent. Notable among these are the following: 



Indian Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) 

 Asiatic Lion (Leo leo persicus) 



