Recently, the clothing brand "Canada Goose" was scolded on the hot search - in the face of trademark embroidery errors, some off-the-line, pungent fabric taste and other quality problems, the brand's "replacement clause" shows that unless otherwise stipulated by relevant laws, all goods sold in Chinese mainland stores cannot be returned.
Yesterday, Canada Goose issued a statement saying that all products sold Chinese mainland stores can be returned for refund.
The double standard behavior of "Canada Goose" may tire out the reputation of a bird - after all, "Canada Goose" is not just a brand name, but people do have their "goose"! In the animal kingdom, Canada Goose refers to the Branta canadensis.
"It's me," | USFWS Mountain-Prairie
As a species of "big goose", The Canadian goose is extremely effective – especially in the event of a plane crash. Between 1990 and 2012, there were at least 1,403 bird strikes related to Canadian geese in the civil aviation industry, with frequencies related to the number of Canadian geese in the local population. One of the most famous bird strikes also caused $60 million in damage. This "destructive power" even led New York City to launch the Canada Goose Cleanup Program...
In December 2016, the film "Captain Sully" was released in China. The male protagonist, played by Tom Hanks, is not in danger, decisively deals with the dangerous situation, and is the last to leave the plane after confirming that all passengers have been evacuated safely. This thrilling landing is based on real events.
The real-life Captain Sully himself, Chesley Sullenberger, | with Tom Hanks, who plays "Captain Sully." Ben Allen
On the afternoon of January 15, 2009, US Airways, an Airbus A320 flight number AWE1549, took off from New York State Airport one for Charlotte, North Carolina. Shortly after takeoff, the sortie encountered a flock of birds, and both engines malfunctioned due to the inhalation of the birds, and finally landed on the Hudson River under the command of the bold captain and co-pilot of the artist. All 155 people on board were rescued.
This is probably the most famous bird strike in the history of human aviation, also known as the "Hudson Miracle". After several investigations, it was found that the bird that could "shoot down" a hundred tons of heavy civil aviation passenger aircraft was the Canada goose.
"What do you see?" | SteveStrummer / wikimedia
The accident caused at least $60 million in economic damage. Fortunately, no one died. But the birds that collided with the plane were apparently unlucky.
After such a serious bird strike accident, it is crucial to identify the specific species of bird strike, to warn of future aviation operations, and to take targeted preventive measures. To that end, researchers from the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture were invited to participate in the survey.
In June 2009, the researchers published a cover article in Fronties in Ecology and the Environment, a journal owned by the American Ecological Society. They took nearly 100 samples of tissue, feathers and debris from both engines, and after DNA barcode and feather structure analysis, they pointed out that it was a Canadian goose that collided with AWE1549 flight.
Fly past a group of Canadian geese | Ken Billington / wikimedia
Further to determine the stable hydrogen isotope levels in the feather samples, the researchers also determined that the Canadian geese that triggered the collision came from a migratory population, not from a local resident population living in New York State.
From Alaska in the north to northern Mexico in the south, Canada goose can be described as everywhere - the head and neck are all black, the cheeks and throat are white, the contrast between black and white is obvious, and the body is mostly dark gray or brown. Well, it's the crash "murderer" who is right.
图 | D. Gordon E. Robertson / wikimedia
(The species name canadensis in the scientific name is derived from the place name, referring to Canada; the genus name Branta is derived from latin and refers to a species of goose, the genus Black Goose.) Therefore, Canadian geese are sometimes called "Canadian black geese". ）
In winter, populations of Canadian geese living at high latitudes in the north migrate to the south for wintering, and there are also resident populations in the mid-latitudes that do not make long-distance migrations.
Canada geese feed mainly on grasses, plant roots or aquatic plants, and often gather in large groups. They are also adaptable and have been artificially introduced to the United Kingdom, the northeast and central parts of continental Europe (nominate subspecies B.c. canadensis), and New Zealand (subspecies B.c. maxima), forming free-living, rewilding populations.
Calendar Lady の tidbits Most of the geese are bursting with combat power, and so are the grey geese, relatives of the Canadian geese. Not only can they unanimously drive away invaders externally, but they also have no soft hands (wings) in internal fights, and male gray geese will even slap each other with their wings.
On September 20, 2019, a paper published in the American journal Science has attracted widespread attention. By evaluating data obtained by the public science project The North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), the researchers found that since 1970, 303 species of breeding birds in the United States and Canada have shown a downward trend, with the highest decline in birds in grassland habitats and the largest decline in forest bird populations. But the study also notes that wetland bird populations have bucked the trend, with the breeding population of waterfowl, including Canada geese, increasing by 56 percent.
Another study also pointed out that between 1970 and 2012, the population of Canada geese in North America increased from 1.26 million to 5.69 million, an increase of nearly fivefold – these increases were mainly contributed by the remaining populations, and their numbers soared from 250,000 to 3.85 million, an increase of 15.6 times. The number of migratory populations has been relatively stable since 1990.
Canada geese in a river in the northwestern U.S. state of Washington | Matthew S. Staben / wikimedia
Meanwhile, between 1990 and 2012, the civil aviation industry is known to have had 1,403 bird strikes related to Canada geese, nearly half of which caused damage. Between 1990 and 1999, the incidence of bird strikes showed a good correspondence with the increasing trend of the number of resettlement populations.
Canada geese are larger, prefer to move in groups, and are often attracted to food factors in the airport and surrounding environment, especially in open grasslands. With their growing populations, they are becoming a major threat to aviation safety and a major target for bird strikes at many airports.
While the population of Canadian geese has increased, the human aviation industry is also developing rapidly. The increasingly "crowded" sky means more "unexpected encounters". The data shows that known bird strikes in the United States have increased 6-fold over the past 20 years.
What should be done in such a situation?
It is not false to say that they are 55 to 110 cm long and weigh 1.3 to 6.5 kg | PumpkinSky / wikimedia
Because it is difficult to distinguish between migratory and retention populations of Canadian geese by appearance, it is also difficult to identify by DNA genetic evidence. So scientists thought of stable isotope, a natural marker. Isotopes are elements with the same number of protons and different numbers of neutrons. Some isotopes of an element are radioactive, while stable isotopes are isotopes that are not radioactive.
With latitude, altitude and distance from the ocean, precipitation on land shows regular changes. This change will be reflected in the differences in hydrogen isotopes in the corresponding areas of plants, and the animals that feed these plants will have hydrogen isotopes in their own tissues consistent with those in food.
When animals migrate to another region, the composition of isotopes in new food sources gradually affects the original isotopic characteristics of animal tissues as they are metabolized. But this is a gradual process, and the original isotopic characteristics will remain for a period of time. Therefore, by determining the isotopic composition of the tissue, the activity area and migration information of the animal in a certain period of time can be obtained.
Canada geese on the lawn, in the distance is the | of the Canadian Parliament Building Pierre5018 / wikimedia
The researchers compared samples taken on flight AWE1549, native resident populations in New York City, and hydrogen-stable isotopes from migratory populations in Labrador, Canada. It was found that the Canadian geese that hit the flight most closely resembled the migratory population in the Labrador region, and there was a large gap with the native population of New York City. Therefore, it is judged that the Canadian geese sucked into the engine in the "Hudson Miracle" originated from migratory populations.
Therefore, for the different biological characteristics of migratory or resettlement populations, people should adopt different bird attack prevention strategies and corresponding measures.
It is worth mentioning that the Labrador samples used for monitoring came from specimens collected by Canadian ornithologist Harold Hanson in his early years. Hansen was committed to the study of the geographical variation of the Canadian goose, so a large number of systematic specimen collections were carried out in the northern breeding grounds and southern wintering grounds of the species. It is these collections of the year that provide valuable reference samples for solving today's problems.
Canadian Goose Chicks | WinterE229 / wikimedia
As mentioned above, the number of Canadian geese remaining in the population shows a trend of increasing year by year. But if you look at it over a longer period of history, you will find something different.
For a long time in the past, Canada geese in North America have been mainly in the form of migratory populations, and their overall populations have fallen to the bottom due to uncontrolled hunting, egg collection and habitat destruction. Until the early 1900s, new York state records of Canadian goose breeding were relatively rare.
With the rise of nature conservation awareness, the hunting of Canada goose has become regulated, and the establishment of protected areas has provided shelter for the continuation and growth of populations. In places like the Hudson Valley and Long Island in New York, some people are starting to release captive individuals into the wild. By the 1950s and 1960s, government departments were also involved, hoping to increase the number to meet the hunting needs of the people. The combination of factors has led to a growing population of Canada geese in New York State.
The City and its surrounding Canada geese have gradually enjoyed the dividends of living around people: fewer natural enemies, a good living environment such as parkland, hunters in crowded places are naturally inconvenient to perform, and enthusiastic citizens will provide additional food sources. These factors, in turn, result in higher survival rates and better fertility for reserving populations.
A family near the city's construction site | Oregon Department of Transportation
Migratory populations, on the other hand, have to endure high mortality rates over long journeys, predators, the effects of bad weather, and even ambushes by hunters along the way. This may be the reason why the population of Canada geese has increased rapidly, while the migratory population has remained relatively stable.
An estimated 200,000 to 25,000 Canadian geese remained in New York City in 2009, and between 1990 and 2009, 1,238 birdings of Canadian geese were reported, 81 percent of which were related to resettlement populations.
So, immediately after the AWE1549 crash, New York City authorities took it for granted that between June 2009 and 2013, 3,658 Canadian geese living within a 5-7-mile (8.05-11.27 km) radius of the airport were caught alive and then sent to a poultry processing plant for processing, and the resulting meat was donated to people in need by charities.
The good news is that the incidence of bird strikes at New York City's JFK International Airport and LaGuardia International Airport in New York State did decrease during the clearance program. But this result cannot be fully attributed to the clearance of Canada geese, and other bird strike prevention efforts at the airport have also played a role.
Prevent bird strikes, you can't indiscriminately | Daniel D'Auria / flickr
Eleven years ago, on December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers completed the first time in human history that they were fully controlled, relying on on-board external power, the airframe was heavier than air, and the airspan was continuously stuck. The first airplane was born, and humans began to fly autonomously, officially entering the sky, which has been occupied by flying animals represented by birds for hundreds of millions of years.
As the number of human flights increased, there were soon unexpected collisions between humans and birds. The first documented bird strike occurred on September 7, 1908, when a pilot named Orville Wright chased a flock of birds over dayton, Ohio, U.S.A., and killed one of them. Since then, bird strikes have become an unavoidable reality in human flight.
Helicopters colliding with grey cranes | U.S. military
Fighter jets that collide with other birds | U.S. military
As the example of the Canada goose shows, looking at the existing experience of countries around the world, the primary task of bird strike (or expanded to wild animal impact aircraft) prevention lies in the fact that different airports should be adapted to local conditions, and the specific types involved in local bird strikes should be effectively identified, so as to identify the species that really pose a threat to flight safety; and on this basis, targeted prevention work such as habitat modification, eviction, and even lethal clearance should be carried out. All of this depends on the accumulation of solid basic data, scientific analysis and active disposal and response in the usual days.
As for the layers of bird nets on both sides of the airport runway, no matter how big or small the birds are, they are all indiscriminately blocked and caught, how much can they play a role in ensuring aviation safety?
The (Chinese) domestic geese we see at the dinner table are domesticated from hong geese; the ancestors of European domestic geese are gray geese. How to deal with these equally powerful domestic geese? Of course, let them duel at the table!
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