As a first-class protected animal on the mainland, the crested ibis, because of its white body and bright red crown, it is also known as the gem of the Orient.
But in fact, the crested ibis is more of a Japanese bird, and the Arabic scientific name of the crested ibis is literally translated as Japan, which shows the importance of this bird to Japan.
The Japanese crested ibises are extinct
In the Edo period in Japan, there were even special hunters responsible for hunting crested ibises, and with the continuous development of modernization, the habitat of crested ibises was constantly destroyed, and the number of crested ibises in Japan decreased sharply. By 1979, only 8 crested ibises were still inhabiting japan, and by 2003, when the beginning of the 21st century, there was not a single wild crested ibis.
While the crested ibis disappeared in Japan, the activity of the entire population was quietly discovered in China, and the 7 crested ibises found in Hanzhong, Shaanxi, China, became the flames of the entire population that continued to continue.
The crested ibis's path to salvation
Although the crested ibis is more distributed in Japan, but also in some parts of China, the protection of the earth's endangered species is every human conscious thing to do, China's wildlife scientists are also not to give in, in order to protect this unique east Asian bird, the mainland zoologist Liu Mengzeng and his team began a long journey to find the whereabouts of the crested ibis.
Of course, blind searching will not be fruitful, Liu Mengzeng's team also knows this, they through the historical distribution of the crested ibis and its habits, combined with the geographical characteristics of China, found on the map 13 provinces that may have the distribution of crested ibises, after up to three years of investigation, Liu Mengzeng's team walked a total of more than 50,000 kilometers, and finally found the only 7 remaining crested ibises in Yang County, Hanzhong, Shaanxi.
The discovery is undoubtedly gratifying, at least proving that the crested ibises have not yet completely extinct, and what is even more exciting is that 4 of the 7 crested ibises found here are only adults and three are young birds.
The appearance of these three young birds proves that these 4 adult crested ibises are capable of reproduction and can continue this population, which undoubtedly gives scientists hope.
And here to insert a piece of science, in the protection of wild animals, scientists generally have two ways to choose, the first is to capture it back into the zoo for breeding, this way of protection has an advantage, it can be more complete observation of the habits of endangered species characteristics, once there are special circumstances can be monitored in time, when the disease can also be treated in time, which will undoubtedly greatly improve the survival probability of endangered species.
Many endangered species conservation takes this approach, but this approach also has a certain danger, that is, when it is not familiar with the habits of endangered species, it is rushed to the zoo for breeding, which is likely to cause it to be unable to adapt to the newly changed environment, resulting in the rapid death of this species.
In the face of the crested ibis, which is close to endangerment, it seems more secure to take the way to catch it back and raise it, while Liu Mengzeng has chosen a more difficult one of in-situ protection, there are many risks in this kind of in-situ protection, first of all, there are too many uncontrollable factors, there is no fence, various natural disasters, natural enemies of germs, many factors will kill the crested ibis, and scientists have no way to control the free flying crested ibis, it is difficult to let it stay in one place safely, which will undoubtedly increase the difficulty of protection.
But at the same time, there is a good place to prevent the extinction of the crested ibis caused by human factors without changing its habitat, and it is also better to observe its natural habits.
From 7 to 7,000 scientists
Since the choice of in-situ protection, then this long crested ibis protection tug-of-war, it began, due to the limited scientific and technological conditions at that time, can not be as in the protected animals to install trackers, can be real-time location of the crested ibis, scientists can only take the most clumsy way, day and night to take turns to watch over the crested ibises on the tree to ensure their living state.
At the same time, in order to prevent natural enemies from harming the crested ibis, scientists also wrapped plastic sheets on the trees where the crested ibises inhabited to prevent snakes and cats from sneaking up on the crested ibises, making the already difficult job of brooding worse again.
Preventing natural enemies is only a small part of the protection of crested ibises, preventing crested ibises from being stupid is also a very important part of it, in the wild environment, crested ibises will give birth to 2 to 6 small crested ibises each time, and these crested ibises hatch first, the first hatched crested ibises it is larger, in order to compete for more food, it will sometimes push the petite crested ibises under the tree to get more food, which is beyond reproach in the natural world, which is the competition in the biological world.
But for the protection of crested ibises, but it is impossible to do this, every crested ibis cub is a treasure, and every time a crested ibis is killed, it may slow down the development of subsequent populations. So scientists squatted day and night under the nest of the crested ibis, installed a special net under the tree to prevent the crested ibis from falling to its death, and found that the fallen crested ibis was sent for treatment in time.
At the same time, the staff responsible for protecting the crested ibises are also particularly good at things, the crested ibises will go out every February to find a partner, when it comes to the estrus period, the crested ibises will secrete a gray substance, it will use its mouth to apply these gray substances to its feathers, so that the original white feathers become gray-brown. At this time, scientists will increase their protection efforts to track the movement of the crested ibises during the estrus period to ensure that it can succeed, mate and give birth to offspring during the estrus period, and care for each crested ibis in adolescence like parents who urge you to marry every day.
Solve the brooding work of the crested ibis, how to create a good living environment for the crested ibis is equally important, before the extinction of the Japanese crested ibis, it is because their living environment was destroyed, and the crested ibis is also a particularly fearful bird, in order to protect its environment, the staff around the reserve will remind local residents, do not set off firecrackers or burn paper money near here, which will frighten the crested ibis, and the scientists responsible for protecting the crested ibis will also popularize the surrounding residents. Let everyone realize the rarity and importance of this bird, so that those who want to poach will be eliminated from the root.
At the same time, the spread of pesticides is also prohibited in the protected area of the crested ibis, because the main food of the crested ibises is small fish and shrimp, and the irrigation water of the pesticide water enters the stream, and will eventually be deposited in the body of these small fish and shrimp, if the crested ibis eats these small fish and shrimp will pose a great threat to its health.
Thanks to the continuous efforts of scientists, the number of crested ibises has increased from the previous 7 to 7,000, which has successfully reduced the protection level of crested ibises from critically endangered to one species, and these crested ibises have also been released into Japan to restore Japan's ecology.
Once again, Chinese scientists have saved endangered species and protected nature's biodiversity.