As both a flagship and umbrella species, the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is one of the most heavily invested species in conservation. Here, we report the wide distribution range retreat of the leopard (Panthera pardus, 81% loss), snow leopard (P. uncia, 38%), wolf (Canis lupus, 77%) and dhole (Cuon alpinus, 95%) from protected areas in the giant panda distribution range since the 1960s. The present findings indicate the insufficiency of giant panda conservation for protecting these large carnivore species and suggest that future conservation efforts should target restoring ecosystems with high trophic complexity to facilitate the recovery of large carnivore populations.

作为旗舰物种和保护伞物种，大熊猫（Ailuropoda melanoleuca）是保护方面投入最大的物种之一。在这里，我们报告了豹的分布范围广泛，豹（Panthera pardus，损失81％），雪豹（P. uncia，38％），狼（Canis lupus，77％）和（Cuon alpinus，95％）来自自1960年代以来在大熊猫分布范围内的保护区。目前的发现表明，大熊猫保护不足以保护这些大型食肉动物，并建议今后的保护工作应针对恢复营养高度复杂的生态系统，以促进大型食肉动物种群的恢复。