If a moderately urbanized man can still spare a moment to assess his habitat, he cannot but marvel at his own powers of adaptation.

Most of the time, we are cut off from soil, vegetation, or other animals, whose habitat is being gobbled up by the concrete jungle, motorized vehicles and other machines.

All elements deemed essential to human subsistence — air, water and food — are not what they were 30 years ago.

We are in the grip of changes, noises, noxious effluvia, and smog, and actually feel very smug about our state of progress.

We are threatened by explosive growth in our population, not extinction, which is the plight confronting almost every other species, at least those whose economic value has not yet been tapped by human beings.

Any ecologist will point out the fragility of an ecosystem dominated by one species, especially one so restless and ruthless.

In the Taoist vision, the universe is informed by a mysterious Tao (the Way) which endows it with generative power, and the created is then each assigned their distinct niche.

The Confucian outlook is essentially the same, with the message that human beings must live humbly within their own niche so as not to incur the wrath of the Heaven.

Liberated from that restrictive outlook, fearless and insolent, the modern homo sapiens has settled on consumption as its highest aspiration. Yes, it's still subject to cumbersome biological limitations, but it is exhausting all resources on earth to constantly heighten the gratification of its sensory experiences. In so doing it has alienated itself from its natural habitat.

As we dedicate more and more soil to high-rises, and cram more and more of our fellow citizens into cities, we find it hard to find any other species who like so much to congregate in so limited a space, as if we do not have enough neighbors to fraternize with.

Modern homo sapiens must be experiencing an acute sense of loneliness in a city sanitized of almost any other species, who are probably essential for the psychological well-being of the human beings.

Diverse landscape

Although my son, brought up in city, has virtually no occasion to come into contact with other species, I am often fascinated by his attachment to a toy tiger named Qiaohu.

Now a fourth grader, he is still in the habit of hugging the tiger while he sleeps, and when he is ready to tackle his homework, having the tiger under his bottom or on his shoulder seem to strengthen him.

I vaguely feel that, unlike me who grew up in a less “improved” environment — meaning there was still accommodation for other animals — my son tries to make up for the loss by relating to a fictitious animal in the barren modern landscape.

“Mammals of China” by Andrew T. Smith and Xie Yan (2013) is a timely reminder of the deprivation all we urbanized beings must live with.

This 395-page pocket guide, an outgrowth of an earlier comprehensive work titled “A Guide to the Mammals of China” (2008), is designed to give ready access to those encountering the diverse mammals of China.

Although China ranks fourth in size among the world’s countries, its variations in topography are unrivalled, ranging from the highest elevation on earth (Chomolungma or Mt Everest at 8,850 meters), to one of the lowest (Turpan Basin at 154 meters below sea level).

In a dramatic manifestation of the contrast, one can stand in Turpan Basin, and have a distant view of snow-capped Bogda Peak (5,445 meters). I remember having many views of the peak while I was in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. China also boasts some of the most extensive deserts, the Taklimakan, and the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, the “Roof of the World”.

This highly diverse landscape contributes to the richness of China’s mammalian fauna. Of the world’s total 5,416 species of mammals, 556, or 10 percent, are found in China. Known as a “mega diversity” country, China has the third highest mammal diversity after Brazil and Indonesia.

This diversity is due to the fact that our country is also very uneven in terms of its “development.”

Eastern monsoon China comprises around 45 percent of the country but is home to roughly 95 percent of China’s human population (1.3 billion).

There is general consensus that human beings are in dire need of improvement: They need bigger cars, more efficient air-conditioners, the latest electronic tablets, faster Internet, to name just a few.

All the other species, if they are articulate, just need to be left alone.

Almost all arable land has been converted to agriculture, and much of the original forest habitat has been destroyed.

In a further development, constant incentives are being created to convert former agricultural land into more profitable factories and real estate, in a process otherwise known as growth.

Conservation effort

Given these depredations, we do not need elaborate research to conclude that a variety of anthropogenic causes conspire to threaten the existence of the mammals, although research is abundant.

For instance, a group of Chinese scientists, after extensive research, recently concluded that human activity should be blamed for the extinction of Yangtze river dolphin (lipotes vexillifer) (November 4, Wenhui Daily).

In this guide, the dolphin is described as "likely the most endangered of all cetaceans, if not extinct."

As a matter of fact, a more curious development is that improved human circumstances can no longer tolerate not only protected species like dolphins, but many domesticated animals as well.

During a recent visit to a very small zoo in Rizhao, Shandong Province, this August, my son was mesmerized by a small pony at the entrance. He has heard a great deal about the exploits of Lu Bu's famed steed chitu, but this is the first time he actually set his eyes on a real one.

Buffaloes, geese and ducks used to be part and parcel of the rural scene in China, but they are disappearing fast, thanks to the disappearance of ponds and creeks, pollution, new dwellings, and the mandate of economics.

Having animals around clearly conflicts with the notion of "standard of living."

I read recently that each year in India more than 20,000 people die of snake bites, but in some villages poisonous snakes can still be seen slithering around freely, without creating panic.

While most religions operate in the tacit beliefs that other animals are a rung lower in their spiritual attainment, Hinduism seems to elevate them. Four of the 10 avatars of Lord Vishnu are half-animal or completely animal.

When India was colonized by the British, wild mammals were considered obstacles to agricultural development. Rewards were offered to kill big game, while elephants were enslaved to clear forests to build railways.

Today starving and endangered elephants in China are struggling in their last habitat - Yunnan Province - but, as the guide points out, elephants once were more extensively distributed.

"They once ranged widely over much of southern China, including Fujian, Guangdong, and Guangxi. The species disappeared from southern Fujian and northern Guangdong during the 12th century but held on in Guangxi into the 17th century," the guides reads. Now they are confined to Yunnan, a plateau province in the grip of heady growth and urbanization. As the authors observe, "One of our motivations for writing this guide is to attract attention to the Chinese mammal fauna so that effective conservation measures can be enacted."