In May last year, more than 500 crocodiles were released into the wild in Anhui Province. This sounds very scary, but the locals say they are not panicking, because these crocodiles are Yangzi crocodiles.
The image of crocodiles in our hearts is that they are fierce predators with blood basins and large mouths, and anyone who sees them is eager to flee quickly. But why is it that only the Yangtze crocodile is not terrible in the hearts of the Chinese people, and the release of 500 locals is also the same?
In this issue, the Ziya Children's Fun Knowledge Bureau will take you to understand that the big eyes in the crocodile are cute: Yangzi crocodile.
The cutest crocodile
At the end of May 2021, Anhui Province announced that it would release 530 Yangzi crocodiles into the wild, the largest number of releases in recent years. Friends who are not familiar with the Yangtze crocodile may be worried.
Isn't there a fear that hundreds of crocodiles will be released from the iron cage? But after these netizens really understand the Yangtze crocodile, they can't help but laugh. It turns out that the Yangtze crocodile is in the crocodile world, and it is simply cute to the point of no friends.
It shows an old grandmother washing clothes by the river, while a Yangzi crocodile watches silently, as if curious about what humans are doing. Its small protruding head and large round eyes make people can't help but call out cuteness when they see it.
This is the video of the crocodile peeking at the grandmother washing clothes that has recently become popular on the Internet. Similar videos also include Yangtze crocodiles eating Wangwang snow cakes, Yangzi crocodiles being held and touching their heads, etc., all of which show its harmless side of humans and animals.
In the crocodile population known for its ferocity, there are outliers such as the Yangtze crocodile.
Yangzi crocodile, commonly known as the earth dragon, has been recorded in the oracle bones of the mainland more than 3,000 years ago, and is a famous crocodile species unique to our country.
The adult Yangtze crocodile can grow to about 1.8 meters tall and weigh between 30 and 40 kilograms, making it the smallest crocodile in the world. Although the Yangtze crocodile is a small head in the crocodile world, it is also a crocodile, with the physique of a large dog.
If this is the case, why is the Yangtze crocodile still a timid appearance in front of humans?
As we mentioned earlier, even if the Yangtze crocodile is the smallest crocodile, it also has a size of tens of kilograms. You know, even puppies and kittens have the potential to hurt people, why is the Yangtze crocodile recognized as a well-behaved baby?
The most docile crocodile
Many other members of the crocodile family eat meat, such as the Nile crocodile, which uses the strong wildebeest as prey, and even the huge hippopotamus in the pond has to respect it.
The crocodile world's big brother bay crocodile can even drag hundreds of pounds of wild boar into the water to eat. As a well-behaved baby among crocodiles, what do You Usually Eat?
According to observations, the main food of adult Yangtze crocodiles is generally small animals such as small fish and shrimp, field snail frogs, etc., which can be said to have a fairly small appetite in the crocodile family.
The Yangtze crocodile does not have the ability to hunt large animals, and the biggest thing they usually eat is fish, which also makes the Yangtze crocodile look quite docile when facing large animals, such as humans.
It is rare for the Crocodile to attack humans, and only when the Crocodile is in a very manic period such as estrus, will they bite people.
And even if they do bite people, it is difficult to cause much harm to people. The staff of a Yangzi crocodile breeding center in Xuancheng said.
A Yangzi crocodile once bit his rubber boots because he was angry, he found a stick and broke the crocodile's mouth, and then found that the Yangtze crocodile did not even bite through his shoes.
The Yangtze crocodile not only has a docile personality, but also is a cute bearer in terms of appearance. Among the large crocodiles, the bay crocodile and the Nile crocodile are flat and strong, and they look domineering.
The yangzi crocodile's figure is round and rolling compared to relatives. Coupled with its large watery eyes, it is difficult for people to associate it with the beast.
Nowadays, The Yangtze Crocodile has become popular on the Internet by relying on cuteness, but you know what? 50 years ago, the Yangtze crocodile almost became extinct because of its docileness.
The most precious crocodile
Since the 1950s, as the population of the mainland has grown, many of the original habitats of the Yangtze crocodile have been reclaimed by humans as farmland. And because the Yangtze crocodile is docile and easy to catch, people were also preying on the Yangtze crocodile in large quantities at that time.
The Yangtze crocodile, which faces habitat destruction and human hunting, once had fewer than a hundred in the wild.
This cute little crocodile was also listed as a First Class Protected Animal by the mainland government in 1972, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature raised the level of protection of the Yangtze crocodile to extreme danger.
With the gradual improvement of the law, the hunting of The Yangtze crocodile on the mainland has basically disappeared since the 1990s. Although no one has hunted the Crocodile indiscriminately, their habitat has been fragmented by human agricultural and industrial activities.
This makes it difficult for the wild population of the Yangtze crocodile to continue to increase. But fortunately, the artificial breeding of Yangtze crocodiles in the mainland is still quite outstanding.
In 1979, there were only more than 210 Yangzi crocodiles at the Yangzi crocodile breeding base in Xuancheng, Anhui Province, China. But after 20 years of careful care, there were already 9,000 Yangzi crocodiles at the Xuancheng Yangzi Crocodile Base in 1999.
After the success of artificial breeding, we began to gradually release these Crocodiles into the wild. Since 2003, the Yangtze crocodile base in Xuancheng has begun to release The Yangtze crocodile to the wild environment.
By 2006, the released Yangtze crocodiles also had a new generation of wild populations that had naturally bred. The Conservation Action of the Yangtze Crocodile, we are doing quite well so far.
Now, the Yangtze crocodile is finally in harmony with us humans again, and these cute little creatures have returned to our side and begun to sneak in the river to watch people wash their clothes.
The Yangtze crocodile has accompanied Chinese since the Oracle period, and is regarded by our ancestors as a kind of dragon, and now it is loved by people because of its cuteness.
We should remember the crisis that the Yangtze crocodile has encountered and do our part in environmental protection, so that the cute little crocodile of the Yangtze crocodile can continue to accompany humans.
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