Snow leopards are one of the least known large cats, the population of which has dramatically decreased. Their habitat loss was considered the main reason for the decline during the last decade, but their habitat preferences are still not well known. In this paper, we studied the winter habitat preferences of snow leopards in the Tomur National Nature Reserve (TNNR) in Northwest China during 2004-2005. We used sign surveys and transects to study the winter habitat selection of snow leopards. The results indicated that snow leopards showed a preference for habitat variabilities in slope aspect, vegetation cover, dominant topographical features, landform ruggedness and grazing status. We found that prey availability and dominant topographical features were the most important factors that determined the winter habitat selection of snow leopards. Our results supported the idea that the habitat preferences of snow leopards are a tradeoff between suitable habitat features and avoidance of potential human interactions.

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Neoseiulus kikuyu sp. nov. of Neoseiulus paspalivorus species-group was discovered from kikuyu grass, Pennisetum clandestinus (Poaceae) in Auckland, New Zealand. All life stages of this new species were described and illustrated.

The family Phytoseiidae is considered the most important beneficial mite family worldwide, but little is known about this family in Shanxi of China. To understand the phytoseiid fauna of this province, an extensive study was initiated in 2013. We present herein the description of a new species, Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) shanxi sp. nov., and the redescription of three new provincial records, Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) coryli Wu and Lan, 1991, Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) porus Wu, 1988, Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) ternatus Ehara, 1972, found on various plants in Shanxi. A key to the known species of Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) reported form Shanxi is also presented.

Asiatic ibex (Capra sibirica) is a threatened species in China and is distributed in the mountains of Central Asia. It is a sexually dimorphic ungulate. The males are much larger than females, and except for the breeding season, both sexes live in separate groups. Many hypotheses have been developed to explain the sexual segregation in sexually dimorphic ungulates. These hypotheses are not mutually exclusive, and in recent years, the activity budget hypothesis has received special attention. To test this hypothesis, we studied the activity budget of Asiatic ibex in the autumn of 2005. According to the activity budget hypothesis, females should spend more time feeding than the males, and the degree of activity synchronization should be higher in same-sex groups than in mixed-sex groups. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis. Both sexes of the Asiatic ibex spent most of the time feeding, and females spent a significantly longer time feeding than males, and males spent a significantly longer time standing. Activity synchronization indexes of both the female groups and males groups were significantly higher than mixed-sex groups. These results indicated that in Asiatic ibex, the activity budget hypothesis about sexual segregation is supported.