We collected data on four basic traits of 367 terrestrial mammal species in China : body size, fecundity, use and endangered status. Using randomization test and regression analyses, we examine whether: (1) threatened species are randomly distribut ed among families. If not, which families contain more or less threatened species than would be expected by chance? What is the relationship between threatened proportion and exploitation among taxa? (2) threatened species are randomly distributed with respect to body size and fecundity. What do the relationships between proportion of threatened species and body size/fecundity look like? Has exploitation generated important effects on the threatened pattern? Results show that threatened species are not randomly distributed among families. Felidae, Bovidae and Cercopithecidae contain more threatened species than expected, while Muridae and Soricidae contain significantly fewer threatened species than expected. Proportion of threatened species in families is positively correlated with the proportion of exploited species. Threatened species also are not randomly distributed with respect to fecundity or body size. Once phylogeny has been statistically controlled, threatened status is positively associated with increases in body size and decreases in fecundity. In multivariate stepwise regressions, only body size is a predictor of threatened status. Average body size of species within taxa is positively correlated with the proportion of exploited species. These results suggest that overexploitation has a great effect on the threatened patterns of mammals in China [ A cta Zoologica Sinica 51(4): 557–585, 2005] .
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