For more than 30 consecutive days, the grass in Huaxia Park has grown a little slowly.
May and July are the seasons when the mother roe deer give birth. "Another 25 young roe deer have been added this year, and now there are 80 roe deer in the garden, and because of the epidemic, wild release has not been arranged." Xi Deliang, 64, bent down, pulled out a handful of wheat and fed it to a roe deer near the railing.
The male has fangs exposed, and when it eats, its fangs fall down, "This is to avoid breaking when eating, but when you enter the fighting state, the fangs will swoop up, if you see the fangs standing upright, you know that they are ready for battle!" But its fangs only fight for love. ”
The book of poetry reads: "There are dead birds in the wild, and white grass is wrapped in it." "麕" refers to the roe deer. Roe deer, also known as tooth deer, earth musk and incense deer, belongs to the second-class endangered protected species in China. It was once the "indigenous people" of Shanghai, but disappeared at the beginning of the last century.
More than 100 years later, the Ancient Elves returned to their homeland. In March 2007, Shanghai imported 21 species of roe deer from Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province. Over the years, 21 roe deer have branched out in Shanghai and have been "wildly released" to Binjiang Forest Park, Nanhui Dongtan, Songjiang Punan Woodland, Chongming Pearl Lake and other places, and it is estimated that there are more than 300 roe deer active in Shanghai.
From 21 roe deer to more than 300 heads, was the re-introduction plan successful? In the process of wild release, what predators will the roe deer encounter? Is there a day when Shanghai residents can open their doors and catch a glimpse of a roe deer? With these questions in mind, the reporter walked into the garden several times.
Why the "reintroduction" program chose it
The first time I entered Huaxia Park was in mid-June, and the reporter walked with several municipal people's congress deputies into the "Zhangyuan Garden" in the northeast corner of the park, and this round-eared, goat-sized animal instantly attracted everyone's eyes.
I saw 80 roe deer, large and small, standing or lying on the grass of more than 7,000 square meters, some of which were eating the milk of the mother roe deer on their backs, and some of whom were leisurely pacing. I saw someone approaching to take pictures, and a few roe deer near the fence ran fast, and the figure was light.
Some representatives saw this animal for the first time and mistakenly thought it was a "roe deer". "Not a roe deer, this is a roe deer!" It is the most primitive deer without horns. The staff corrected.
This is the spirit that has existed in Shanghai since ancient times. Dating back to the Neolithic Age, it has historically been widely distributed on the Liaodong Peninsula, the North China Plain, and the banks of the Yangtze River and the Korean Peninsula. Chen Min, an associate professor in the Department of Life Sciences at East China Normal University, found that there were roe deer teeth in the fossils when he visited the Songze site, "This history is 6,000 years ago, and the roe deer is undoubtedly the indigenous people of Shanghai."
Female and young roe deer in Huaxia Park
However, since the opening of the port of Shanghai, with the urbanization, a large number of natural ecological environments have disappeared, and the number of roe deer has become smaller and smaller. In the 1880s, there were many roe deer in Qingpu and Fengxian on the outskirts of Shanghai, and farmers in the suburbs once sent roe deer and pheasants to the city to sell. However, by the beginning of the last century, there were no more roe deer in Shanghai.
After a hundred years, why can this extinct animal have the opportunity to return to its hometown?
"The first person to propose to bring the roe back to Shanghai was my mentor Zhang Endi." Chen Min said that Zhang Endi mainly studied Siberian tigers and deer animals, and once raised several roe deer in a forest behind the Old Biological Museum of East China Normal University. In the early years, Zhang Endi studied in the UK and found that the badger lived well in the UK. These roe deer were originally introduced from China and gradually formed their own population. So, he had the idea of introducing Zhangzhong to Shanghai.
The IUCN Guidelines for Reintroduction define "reintroduction" as an attempt to re-establish a population within a part of a species' historical distribution area where the species has disappeared or extinct. As the historical distribution of roe deer, the roe deer has disappeared in Shanghai for a short time, which meets the requirements for the re-introduction of species.
There is a "geographical advantage", and it is still time to wait. Since 2000, Shanghai has carried out large-scale forest construction and wetland ecological restoration work, and the urban ecological environment has been greatly improved, but the complete ecological chain has not been fully established. "My mentor believes that if this Shanghai aboriginal person can be brought back, biodiversity can be restored and increased through artificial methods." Chen Min said.
At that time, there were roe deer in the Zhoushan Islands of Zhejiang, poyang Lake in Jiangxi, Coastal Wetlands in Jiangsu and Anhui. To reintroduce it, it is necessary to find a species that is exactly the same as the native cantonese in Shanghai. To this end, Chen Min and several classmates made surveys and evaluations of these habitats, they collected samples of roe deer hair, feces and other samples, through genetic comparison, to determine that the genetic diversity of various groups of roe deer in China is still an intraspecific difference, there is no differentiation. "This means that the reintroduction of wild roe deer to Shanghai is feasible."
The beautiful vision of animal experts soon blossomed. In September 2006, the project "Establishment of a Pilot Population for the Re-introduction of Roe deer in Pudong New Area" was launched. In cooperation with the Pudong New Area Government, the District Environmental Protection Bureau, the District Science and Technology Commission, the District Forestry Station, the Municipal Appearance and Greening Bureau, the Municipal Agricultural Commission, the Shanghai Wildlife Conservation Association, the Songjiang Forestry Station, the Chongming Forestry Station and the East China Normal University, the scientific research team of the College of Life Sciences of Hua Normal University headed by Chen Min undertook the tasks of professional guidance and scientific research monitoring.
On March 7, 2017, Huaxia Park brought 21 breeding roe deer from Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province. Among them, 8 male roe deer and 13 female badgers are 1-3 years old. It took them 2 months to adapt to Pudong's climate and environment. At that time, more than half of the female roe deer were successfully conceived and gave birth to small roe deer.
Why don't this group of roe deer that return to nature increase but decrease
After two years of breeding, the number of roe deer in Huaxia Park reached 52, and Shanghai successfully established the first roe deer to introduce captive populations.
Since 2009, Huaxia Park has transported roe deer to Binjiang Forest Park, Songjiang Punan Woodland, Niigata Woodland, Nanhui Dongtan, Chongming Mingzhu Lake and other areas for rewilding and wild release.
There are several sets of data that piqued the interest of journalists. From November 2009 to January 2010, 14 roe deer in Huaxia Park were released into binjiang Forest Park, with a herd-to-male ratio of 9:5. In the following years, the population remained at around 30, although it declined in the past two years, and the number of existing populations is about 10.
In December 2015, Chongming Mingzhu Lake Park introduced 25 roe deer from Huaxia Park. Mingzhu Lake also introduced some individuals from Punan's woodland and Zhoushan. However, the number of extant populations is about 3.
Why do some places not increase or decrease the number of roe deer released in the wild?
This has to do with the personality of the roe deer, and the staff laughed at it as a bit "provocative". Males have fangs, and this "fangs" are very confusing. Xi Deliang had seen many scenes of fighting. Every year from November to January, it is the mating and estrus period of the roe deer, the roe deer garden is murderous, the male roe deer compete fiercely, after a battle, there is always a hanging color. But the fangs are only stronger than infighting and are not good at resisting enemies. In addition to defending love, they generally do not use fangs. When they saw a stranger, they would only run away, but they couldn't hide, so they jumped and ran with their backs hunched over.
This "encouragement" of the roe deer is not a big problem in the captivity area, but when it comes to the wild release link, it has become the fatal weakness.
Binjiang Forest Park is basically a completely wild environment, and the roe deer group cannot be taken care of as carefully as in Huaxia Park, all on their own. These roe deer also adapted well, and the next year they gave birth to two small roe deer.
But from time to time they encounter predators. Once, an adult roe deer climbed over the fence to the outside of the park, did not expect to encounter a dog, panicked and hit the park's electric door, fortunately the staff found it in time, quickly opened the gate, let the roe go home.
But not all roe deer are so lucky. "We've seen a lot of roe deer carcasses, bitten by dogs, and eaten offal by rats and weasels." Chen Min said that because the roe deer is naturally timid, many animals can kill it, even smaller than it.
"It's easy to be frightened, and it's possible to die all at once." Chen Min's students had witnessed a small roe deer standing motionless for nearly an hour. When encountering predators, the roe deer will also run wildly, hitting the wall and hitting the tree, and the head will break and bleed. If you encounter a vicious dog, several roe deer may be bitten alive or scared to death overnight.
The second enemy is the hunter.
After the release of the roe, he found three poachings, two of which were in Nanhui Dongtan.
Compared with Binjiang Forest Park, the roe deer in nanhui Dongtan wetland is more pure wild - the range is larger and unattended.
"When the roe deer are released, they all wear electronic collars, and we use radio telemetry to track them. If it is found that the positioning of the roe deer is not moving, or if it is suddenly not monitored in the area where it is usually active, it may be an accident. Chen Min said.
They had found collars worn by two cut roe deer in Nanhui Dongtan, which showed that the two roe deer had encountered an accident and may have been hunted. On another occasion they found hunting cages and power grids in Matsue.
Roe deer that are released from the wild will also face various natural environment problems. For example, some wild revetments are too steep and straight, and the roe deer that accidentally falls into the water fails to climb ashore and drowns. A pregnant female roe deer in Binjiang Forest Park accidentally fell into the river and although she could swim, she could not climb ashore. Fortunately, the primary school students visiting the park found out and reported to the park, and the staff jumped into the river to rescue the mother roe deer in time.
In order to ensure the safety of these roe deer, many wild lands have also used their brains. In 2015, Huaxia Park "wilded" more than a dozen roe deer into the Songjiang Niighama woodland. A three- or four-acre pond was dug up in the Niigata woodland for natural drinking water. Not only is there a tin guardrail around the perimeter, but there are also double rows of bamboo forests in the middle, and monitoring probes are installed, and the managers also regularly check the defense to prevent the roe deer from getting lost.
Chen Min said that in the first few years, there were very few tourists in these wild parks, and many of them were empty places. As the number of visitors to the park increased, the area where the roe deer was active was challenged. "It is so timid, it basically poses no threat to people, but in the face of the harm caused by people, the roe deer has no power to fight back."
Roe deer prefer environments with water, but studies have shown that roe deer that are released into the wild prefer to choose areas farther away from water sources. Chen Min said that the reason may be that the entire park itself is rich in water sources, most of the places where the roe deer operate is within 150 meters of the water source, and the water demand does not constitute a limiting factor for its activities. Another reason is that the area near the water source is where tourists are concentrated, and the roe deer avoids choosing an area that is too close to the water source, which may be a higher response to human alertness.
This also raises the question, how do people and roe deer live in harmony?
They, in association with the roe deer, "respect each other as guests"
"I've been with these roe deer for over a decade, and we respect each other like guests."
Xi Deliang has been guarding these elves for all these years, and his guardianship room is in the corner of the zhangyuan, which contains a simple bed with an old-fashioned TV on the table.
A male roe deer drinking water. Photo by Wang Haiyan
Following him around the garden, he taught reporters how to identify males and females. Not far from the care unit, there is a 2-meter-long rectangular sink where an adult male roe deer is leaning down to drink water with a yellow ear tag on its left ear. "The 'ear tag' is usually a man's left and a woman's right, or you can see if he has fangs."
In the corner of the fence, a male roe deer was lying idly in front of a pile of wood, "You see, it sees this place as its territory!" ”
Xi Deliang's daily work is to feed and change water for them, mainly clover and dried soybean meal. "An adult roe deer eats 3-5 pounds of grass a day, or 1.5 pounds of soybean meal feed, and drinks more water."
Xi Deliang and Xiao Zhang
He pulled out a handful of grass to feed the roe deer, but the roe deer was not interested, and turned and ran away with a cry. "The geese and ducks I raise recognize me, and as soon as I call, they run over, and the roe deer don't like to be close to people." There was a slight sense of loss in his words.
Master Jin on the other side of the Huangpu River also resonates deeply. Since 2008, a breeding base for roe deer has been built in the forest land of Punan, Matsue, and when the guardian Master Jin feeds the roe deer, there are always one or two hiding five or six meters away, watching with vigilant eyes, getting a little closer, and then quickly escaping. In the past ten years of raising a roe deer, Master Jin has only had a few chances to touch the roe deer with his own hands.
But this does not prevent the guardians from taking good care of them. After more than ten years of getting along, Xi Deliang is already familiar with the habits of the roe deer. "They love to eat the leaves of these wild persimmon trees, but they don't stretch their necks to eat them, and they have to wait for the leaves to fall."
The researchers got closer to the roe deer than the guardians. Chen Min and biology graduate students often come to the park to do monitoring research. "I took a few students to stay in Huaxia Park, labeled these roe deer ear tags, and recorded their eating, drinking, and sleeping from morning to night." They looked very closely and found a lot of interesting behaviors of the roe deer. For example, during estrus, the male rooster will make the gesture of patting his ears and climbing. In addition to fecal and urine markers, males also rub their foreheads against fences, branches, or turf, etc., using the suborbital glands to mark and swear their territory for female favor.
They also developed relationships with some of the roe deer. There is a female roe deer in Huaxia Park with a white spot on her head, and students call it "white face". Whiteface is 5 years old and has a baby every year. It was also very "fraternal", and when other roe deer came to eat her milk, she accepted it. You know, feeding other children is not a natural act of a roe deer.
There are also many roe deer with personalities. For example, the 15th is very clever, and the data is always measured last. No. 18, who suffers from rhinitis, is very close. Chen Min went to the Shanghai Zoo for a while to observe the roe deer, "As soon as I got there, on the 18th, I would arch my bag and eat the lunch I brought, and sometimes my bag was very firmly tied, and it could be turned over."
The reporter learned that over the years, more than 30 East China Normal University students have participated in the investigation and research of the roe deer. The project team also recruited a certain number of volunteers, and after full training, they also entered the re-introduction project of The Roe deer.
The return of the elves to their hometowns more than a hundred years ago is also a new thing for the citizens. Many citizens come to Huaxia Park every day to see the roe deer. The reporter visited the 35 degrees Celsius high temperature day of the zhangyuan, the sun was hot, there were still many parents with their children to the park to look for roe deer, and some people also bought vegetables to feed. The person in charge of the Pudong New Area Forestry Station said that as an important natural science education base in Huaxia Park, Zhangyuan has become a must-see spot for citizens to visit the park.
Photo by Wang Haiyan of Huaxia Park
In other parks where wild flowers are released, the roe deer has also become a popular scene for the public. Binjiang Forest Park once held a photography contest, and the public signed up enthusiastically. In the end, more than 20 tourists were lucky enough to take a picture of the roe deer, collecting 2 videos and 75 precious photos. The park also drew a map of "roe deer haunting" based on this.
In the Shanghai Zoo, Chen Min once saw enthusiastic citizens popularizing knowledge to those around them, and said: "There are not many roe deer here, but the most roe deer in Pudong Huaxia Park!" ”......
A beautiful picture of people living in harmony with the roe deer has been lost, but the managers have found that the way people love the roe deer is wrong. For example, many tourists will involuntarily touch the small roe deer with their hands. "Mixed with your smell, the mother of the roe may not recognize it!" Binjiang Forest Park has issued a special notice to remind tourists that if they encounter a small roe deer in the park, they must not touch it, so as not to contaminate it with human breath and be abandoned by the mother roe deer.
In the neighborhood on the street, will it meet unexpectedly
Not long ago, the owners of a small district in Songjiang District reported that flocks of "wild beasts" were found on the community's trails, gardens, and ponds. One day, Shanghai citizens walking in the community or on the street, can they also meet the badger unexpectedly?
In fact, many citizens have already met the roe deer in the suburbs.
On July 31 last year, a male roe deer sneaked out from the side of the gate of Huaxia Park. For more than half a year, this male roe deer was out there. Many nearby residents have bumped into this mischievous elf who ran away from home, and some people are happy to send a circle of friends: "On the way home, a deer-like animal flashed in front of me, a bit like arriving in Nara, Japan." ”
However, this roe deer did not run far, the activity footprint is basically around the park, from time to time it also runs back to the vicinity of the roe garden to chew a few bites of grass, and look at the fence with its friends. In April this year, the male roe deer was led back to the garden, ending his career.
Nanhui Dongtan, that is, near the Dishui Lake, the roe deer often meets people on the road, and some people exclaim: "I didn't expect to meet this ancient elf in the lingang new area!" ”
In Binjiang Forest Park, an adult roe deer once ran out of the park, broke into a nearby public security high school, and finally returned home with the efforts of the school and park staff.
However, it is still difficult to meet a badger in a highly populated residential area and on the street.
The goal of the reintroduction project was to continue to restore the roe deer as an indigenous species, and through the establishment of a breeding population, rewilding and wild release, the roe deer could form a wild population that could sustainably reproduce itself, and eventually make it the flagship species of Shanghai's urban ecological restoration.
At present, Shanghai has bred more than 300 from 21 roe deer, has this goal been achieved?
"It can be said that at present, only the first step has been successfully completed, that is, to build a certain number of populations." In Chen Min's view, after more than a decade of advancement, the re-introduction plan of the roe deer has met the expectations of two aspects: first, the feasibility of this project has been fully demonstrated, that is, it is feasible for the roe deer to form a wild population in Shanghai; in addition, whether the roe deer can establish a breeding population has also been fully tested and demonstrated. But there is still a long way to go from the ideal goal.
"Because it can take decades or even hundreds of years for a species to recover." Chen Min said that although there are currently roe deer herds in the wild, the scale is still too small. From a biological point of view, for small deer such as roe deer, it is generally believed that at least 500 breeding populations, a total of about 1000, are required to basically meet the criteria for population recovery.
The research team compared the roe deer in Huaxia Park with the roe deer in Hewlesnide Park in the United Kingdom. They found that the roe deer in Huaxia Park had more rest than eating, and the roe deer in Hewl snyder Park spent more time feeding, followed by rest behavior. "This may be related to different captive conditions." Chen Min said that they can freely eat the vegetation in the activity area, but the range of roe deer in Hewlsnaide Park in the United Kingdom is about 4,000 square meters / only, while Huaxia Park is only more than 200 square meters / only, and the gap between the two is huge.
Chen Min and Badger
Similar research opens up perspectives for the road of "wild release": what kind of environment is suitable for the roe deer?
What worries her is the cookie-cutter design of modern river embankments. The roe deer will go to the river to drink water, but many of the embankments have been transformed into cement stakes, and the roe deer cannot climb up when they fall into the water. "This design may be aesthetically economical, but it is not friendly to wildlife."
The population of the roe deer after the wild release has declined, and in Chen Min's view, there is no need to panic much, because of the personality characteristics of the roe deer, the uncertainties after the wild release are more, and the fluctuations are also large. For example, if a roe deer is bitten to death by a dog or other animal, it may seem like a failure, but it is a link in the ecological food chain. Once the roe deer is integrated into nature, it enters the entire ecological chain system, which can drive the healthier development of other species, such as plant seeds through the roe deer's feces, and can better thrive.
"What we should consider is how to prevent hunting or interference, and keep the nature of ecological land unchanged, so as to provide basic conditions for the long-term reproduction of roe deer." Chen Min said. At present, Shanghai has increased law enforcement, and the hunting behavior has been greatly reduced, but how to guide tourists is more important. She suggested that before the implementation of wild release in the future, it is necessary to create a habitat with moderate vegetation coverage and density and good concealment for the roe deer, and set up science popularization education and warning signs to guide the reasonable behavior of tourists and avoid human interference to the roe deer.
At the beginning, Shanghai introduced 21 breeding roe deer from Zhejiang, and at first everyone thought that this was more of a "show", but unexpectedly, Shanghai has insisted on it for 13 years. The project team's research papers on roe deer have also been frequently published in international journals, which has become a wonderful case of the reintroduction of wild animals in large cities.
"If the roe deer can survive well, it reflects that Shanghai's ecological environment is relatively well restored, and the quality of citizens is relatively good." Chen Min said, "We hope that its incense will not be broken, we will find it back, the next thing is to keep it, to thrive in Shanghai, this is not 5 years, 10 years, but hundreds of years, need to go through the efforts of several generations, one day, Shanghai people will be proud to keep the spirit of nature!" ”
Column Editor-in-Chief: Wang Haiyan Text Editor: Wang Haiyan Title Image Source: Provided by the interviewee.