Begging for snow rice cakes, he was knocked on the head by his grandmother. The water overlord who is remembered as fierce and evil has now become a representative animal of sprinkling and selling cuteness. What's so special about the Yangtze crocodile?
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The blood relationship of the Yangtze crocodile
In fact, the blood relationship between the Yangtze crocodile and the so-called water overlord Nile crocodile is not as close as everyone thinks.
The Yangtze crocodile is a first-class protected animal in mainland China and a crocodile endemic to China. It belongs to the order Crocodile and alligator family. The Nile crocodile that sneaked into the water to sneak up on the zebra belonged to the crocodile family. Subdivided down do not belong to a family, there is no tiger-lion relationship close.
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The Yangtze crocodile has a docile personality, except for the somewhat irritable calf protection during the spawning period, and the rest of the time likes to lie quietly in the cave. Sometimes I bask in the sun on the shore. How to describe this?
Some netizens said that there is a Yangzi Crocodile Park in Xuancheng, Anhui. Because the Yangtze crocodile's guts were too small, a group of crocodiles were chased by children and ran straight into the water. In order not to let his son create an illusion about the crocodile, the father had to say that these are small crocodile babies, and when they grow up, they will eat people.
This little guy, who is only 1.5 meters long, half of which is still tailed, although it bears the name of a crocodile, its staple food is fish and shrimp, snails, frogs, and sometimes it is unprecedented to catch a hare, which is almost the limit.
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In addition, the Yangtze crocodile is also particularly resistant to hunger and can not eat for a long time. But sometimes when you are too hungry to do so, you will swim to the water's edge and sell people for food. However, if you are not careful, you may be hit by a pan.
This is true of the wild, and even more so if it has been in contact with humans for a long time. According to netizens, there was a Yangzi crocodile in the aquarium where he worked, who was startled by the bear child and did not eat for several days, and the keepers coaxed it for several days before they were coaxed.
The survival cheats of the Yangtze crocodile
In terms of seniority, the Yangtze crocodile can be called a living fossil, but in terms of combat ability, the Yangzi crocodile is really unbearable.
Not only is there no such body size as the Nile crocodile and the bay crocodile, but even the crocodile family's famous death roll will not be able to go to the river to beg for food. The only record of hurting people since the founding of the country should be the one that scared people into the river.
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Some people will ask, such a docile personality can live to this day, Yangzi crocodile must have some superhuman skills.
The Yangtze crocodile prefers to be quiet, the cat is in the cave during the day, and comes out at night to forage for food, which can also avoid most of the fierce beasts.
The hole of the Yangtze crocodile is also very interesting. People who live by the river should have seen the holes it dug when they were children. The holes of the Yangtze crocodile are intertwined, and there are several openings in one hole. Some of the openings are on the reed-covered shore, and some are at the bottom of the swamp.
These crisscrossing holes are like an underground labyrinth where they can cool off in the summer and hibernate in the winter.
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Although the Yangtze crocodile looks dazed and slow, the sturdy tail gives them a certain ability to escape. Once in the event of an enemy, the Crocodile swung its thick tail back and forth and quickly sank into the cave under the water.
In addition, another secret to the survival of the Yangtze crocodile is not picky eating. Small fish, small shrimp, small crabs, all come and do not refuse. I am really hungry and anxious, and eating bugs can also deal with it.
The Yangtze crocodile has a large amount of food and a strong digestive capacity in the stomach, which can store the absorbed nutrients in the body. For them in the long hibernation period, can not eat for a long time.
If you are born five big and three thick, who wouldn't want to eat meat? But since this is already the case, you can only rely on selling cute mixed food to eat.
The aunts who washed clothes by the river recognized it and would give it something to eat from time to time. If they saw strangers walking to the river, their four little paws would turn into propellers and run away in a puff of smoke.
The situation of the Yangtze crocodile
As of 2021, there are about 1,864 wild pandas in mainland China. However, such a timid Yangtze crocodile brought only about 1,000 of the 370 pieces released this time.
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In recent years, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River where wild Yangtze crocodiles live have developed rapidly, and their habitats have been developed into arable land and ponds, and their living space has been continuously compressed.
In the 1950s, the Yangtze crocodile experienced a near-extinction population crisis. Due to the docile personality of the Yangtze crocodile, even if people grab it, it will not cause great damage to people. In this way, a large number of Yangzi crocodiles were caught and sold abroad, and the population dropped sharply.
In 1979, Xuanzhou, Anhui Province, established the Yangtze Crocodile Breeding Research Center, which captured 212 Yangzi crocodiles from the wild for artificial breeding. By 1988, the Number of Crocodiles had been able to reach a stable birth of 1,500 juvenile crocodiles per year.
Since then, Anhui has released a part of the Yangtze crocodile back to nature every year. There are now more than 1,000 wild Yangtze crocodiles.
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Oh, and there's a little legend about the Yangtze crocodile. That is to say, in ancient times, there was a kind of "earth dragon" that roared collectively whenever it was about to rain.
When farmers hear the cries of earth dragons, they will make various flood prevention preparations in advance. Harvest wheat, collect clothes, and pile up levees to minimize losses from heavy rains. The earth dragon mentioned here refers to the Yangtze crocodile.
Some people worry that these captive crocodiles have little ability to take care of themselves, and they often play small roles in breeding centers and do not eat. Can you still rely on yourself in the wild?
In fact, the Yangtze crocodile is much easier to breed than giant pandas. Now there are tens of thousands of Yangzi crocodiles in the breeding base, and they are also lent to other countries from time to time with giant pandas. As long as we want, it is not difficult to add tens of thousands of more.
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Wild Yangtze crocodile's biggest enemy is the encroachment on its habitat. This time, Anhui released so many Yangzi crocodiles, but also because tens of thousands of acres of Yangzi crocodile habitat was recovered.
In any case, I still hope that the Yangtze crocodile population can continue to be healthy and long-term. After all, this little guy grabbed the snow rice cake and looked quite likable,