Mammals of Korea: Current status and zoogeography

Information on Korean mammals has been compiled here to produce a recent account of mammals that incorporates and updates the information in both previous works by Wons. Ninety-eight species of mammals including marine forms that occur, or once occurred, in the Korean Peninsula are treated here. Of the 83 species of terrestrial mammals, only a few species bear distinct relationship to the endemic elements of the Chinese and Russian provinces of the Palearctic region. The mammals of Korea is a unique mixture of both boreal and temperate affinities. The highland mammals of Korea are all closely related to those found in the boreal zones of Manchuria, mainland China, Siberia, and Sakhalin whereas the lowland mammals found in areas with mild climate are mostly related to those found in central and southern China. Of the 83 species of terrestrial mammals, 54 species (65.1%) occur throughout the Korean Peninsula. The remaining 34.9% of the species reach distributional limits mostly within the northern highlands. Of the 29 species, 24 species are restricted in distribution to the northern highland of the peninsula whereas only three species limited in distribution to the southern peninsula. The remaining two species are confined to Cheju Island.; Paleoenvironmental implications of Pleistocene mammalian faunas of the Korean Peninsula were investigated to ascertain their past and present zoogeographic relationships. The mammalian fauna was remarkably influenced by the changes of sea level. The Yellow Sea disappeared and there was a broad belt of land connecting southern China to western Korea. In the southern peninsula, southeastern portion became joined Japan in the region of the Tsushima Straits. Consequently, mammalian fauna became rich and diverse in terms of large herbivorous and carnivorous mammals presented in the peninsula. By the end of the Pleistocene, however, these land connections had gone as a result of glacial retreat and the mammalian fauna became isolated from the southern China. This may have resulted in depauperate mammalian fauna in the Korean Peninsula. Numerous recent taxa appeared in the Pleistocene and most of the species are still living in the Korean Peninsula. Ninety-five per cent of these species belong to living genera and 69% of the species are still living in the peninsula.