KOREAN ENGLISH CHINESE JAPANESE         HomeEcology White Paper of DMZComposition of ecosystemMammalia     1) Interview of Dr. Woo Hanjeong, mammals specialist   2) East coast region 3) Mid-eastern mountainous region 4) Mid-west inland region 5) West coast region 6) Island region 1) Interview of Dr. Woo Hanjeong, mammals specialist   As the result of investigation at Paju region, 10 species including squirrel, raccoon dog, Korean squirrel, roe deer, Mole, weasel, Chinese water deer, Korean hare, small-eared cat and plain cat were observed. The density of Chinese water deer was high compared to other regions, appearing at every area of investigation. The Chinese water deer and its tracks of foods, footprints and excrements were found at the reed field and farmlands near the Jangdan peninsula.   2) East coast region   10 species of mammals were found to inhabit at the East coast region. For each region of investigation, 8 species were found at Hwajinpo, 3 species were found at Orebaui, and 6 species were found at Bonghwabong. The dominant species were the moles distributed evenly in the entire region of investigation. Wild boar, Korean hare and raccoon dog were also found to inhabit near Hwajinpo-ho. Moreover, the survey showed that the fur seals visited the coast of this region regularly. However squirrels, which are small mammals commonly dwelling at the inland all over the country, were not found in this region. The Korean squirrels were found to inhabit only at the pine forest near the Hwajinpo-ho. 2 excretements of otters, endangered species under the threat of extinction were found under the coast guard wire-entanglements at the Orebaui region, and 3 at the Hwajinpo-ho. The otter mainly feed on fish, but depending on dwelling situations they seemed to feed on other animals than fish.       Wild boar   Korean hare   Raccoon dog     Squirrel   Korean squirrel   Otter 3) Mid-eastern mountainous region   16 species including wild boar, roe deer, weasel etc. were found to inhabit at the Mid-eastern mountainous region of the DMZ nearby region. By the survey enforced by the native dwellers 9 more species including musk deer, goral etc were found. As the result, the total of 24 mammalian species was found to live at the DMZ nearby region at the region of yanggu-gun Kangwon-do. Especially the 1 individual lynx, which is known to be endangered and distributed in places like Manchuria, Sakhalin, North Korea was observed at Mt. Daeam at December 1995 and was investigated to inhabit at the DMZ. Since the plain cat and bush dog, which are wild mammals, are found to be growing in number at the DMZ, the disturbance of ecosystem at the DMZ is highly concerned.       Roe deer   Weasel   Goral 4) Mid-west inland region   5 mammalian species including Chinese water deer, roe deer, raccoon dog, Mole, squirrel were found to inhabit at the Chulwon plains of the Mid-west inland region. 8 individuals of Chinese water deer were observed at the same time in one region (Pilseung-church observation platform). They maintained high habitation density among the large herbivorous animals which lets us predict that the large predatory animals that feeds on Chinese water deer are already endangered or only the minimum number of them is alive. 5) West coast region   11 species of mammals were found to inhabit at the Ganghwa-gun, Kimpo-shi, Paju-shi and Yeonchun-gun of the west coast region showing big difference with the records of the past. 4 species were found to dwell near the Ganghwa-gun region, but they were mostly found at the Ganghwa-do (Chulsan-ri) and mammals of Gyodong-do were found to be of small number. 6) Island region   128 species and subspecies were found in this region. This is the region were most species were appeared among the 5 regions of investigation at the DMZ and nearby regions. However the facts that the region is at the important location of the birds’ migration course and the time of investigation was on April- May when the migration of passing migratory birds are active must have had some effect on the result. Nevertheless, it is a region where many groups and diverse species pass compared to the inland forest areas and is an important region as the middle stop-off region at the migration path of the migratory birds.