Incorporating historical data is very important for conservation biology researchers to reduce errors. We use the mammal records from 3,677 gazetteers (Difangzhi, local chronicle) to analyse the distribution change of mammals in South-East China during last 500 years. We select five kinds (in traditional folk taxonomy) of large mammals—tiger, leopard, bear, deer and primate as indicative species and incorporate human population data and farmland area data of each count as the representation of anthropogenic threats. We sort the data into 4 periods, and analyse the diachronic change of human, farmland and mammal distribution by geographic information system (GIS). The results show that: With the human population and the farmland area booming, the mammal habitats are reduced by steps; as shown in the map, the geographical reduction directions of mammal habitats were the same as the expansion directions of the anthropogenic threats; the decline rates of different mammals were different and were influenced by environment factors such as landform. Based on the appearances, we use statistical methods to analyse the relation between the mammal distribution and anthropogenic threats.