Cameras reveal high number of wildlife in Shanghai

SHANGHAI — A research team from Fudan University has found raccoon dogs, a member of the wild canid species related to foxes, in more than 60 neighborhoods in Shanghai.

“Slightly larger than cats and rabbits, raccoon dogs are rather mild-tempered and might be more suitable for urban activities,” says Wang Fang, a team member and a researcher of the School of Life Sciences

at Fudan University.

According to the team, the animal’s habitats in urban areas of Shanghai include spaces under balconies of residential buildings, walls, storerooms, cracks in bridge piers, as well as gas pipes and abandoned sewers.

The team, together with nearly 100 volunteers, has been using 80 infrared cameras to track wild animals living in the metropolitan area since 2019, mostly in green areas near water sources or sparsely populated places with a good natural environment that wildlife is most likely to show up in, such as parks and campuses.

So far, nine of the 10 infrared cameras installed in Shanghai Binjiang Forest Park have repeatedly captured weasels, and the images of raccoon dogs can be seen from seven of these cameras set by the team.

“Such a large density is completely unexpected,” says Weng Yue, a member of the team. “After 6 pm, when the park is closed, these animals would crop up from everywhere, ‘occupying’ the place that is full of people in the daytime.”

According to the team, the raccoon dogs have also been spotted in eastern Chinese cities of Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Wuxi.

Wang says nonstop monitoring and management of urban biodiversity should be continued, with a focus on the process of urbanization, to adjust solutions in a dynamic manner.

“Cities are becoming common homes for both people and wild animals,” Wang says. “Learning about our ‘wild neighbors’ and living peacefully with them are part of a better urban life.”