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In January 2018, there was a case in Tongchuan, China, where a wild crested ibis was sentenced to ten years for killing a wild crested ibis, and there was also a case of hunting a crested ibis and being sentenced to 9 years;
Those who don't know will wonder: Why is it that killing a crested ibis is a ten-year sentence? And those who know it will think: Ten years is still a small sentence! I was afraid that I would be sentenced to a longer sentence before!
So, where is the crested ibis? Why is it so tightly protected? In the final analysis, it is still "scarce things are expensive".
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="01" > the characteristics of the crested ibis</h1>
The crested ibis, also known as the crested ibis, belongs to the national first-level key protected animal, known as the "Oriental Gem", once more precious than the giant panda, and almost became a "national bird" (later released due to quantitative problems);
It has a pair of slender legs, white feathers, occasionally some pink embellishments, the crown is vermilion, the overall appearance is dignified and beautiful, simple and atmospheric, very ornamental;
Crested ibises generally feed on small fish, shrimp and crabs, prefer to move alone or in small groups, and have a strict distinction between habitats and humans: nesting, overnight accommodation, foraging ground and wandering area, preferring to live near ponds or swamps in temperate areas;
What is enviable is that the crested ibis has adhered to love all his life: if one of the husband and wife takes the first step, the one left behind will spend the rest of his life alone.
Such a beautiful and dedicated bird is a gift from nature.
Because the Latin pronunciation of the scientific name (Nipponia nippon) is similar to the Japanese word for "Japan", Japan regards it as a sacred bird, and it is also the national bird, which is the symbol of the Japanese imperial family, and the island was once full of crested ibises.
However, it did not take long for the crested ibises to experience "extinction" in Japan and, strictly speaking, to be considered extinct in our country.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="01" > the "extinction history" of the crested</h1> ibis
Around the 1950s, traces of crested ibises can still be seen frequently in 14 provinces of China, which are commonly foraging in Shaanxi, Gansu and other regions, and were designated as "special natural monuments" by Japan in 1952;
But by the early 1960s, Chinese scientists could only find traces of crested ibises in the Qinling area.
Worldwide, in 1963, Russia lost all traces of crested ibises; the following year, the same situation began in China, and in the next 17 years, The Chinese crested ibises were considered extinct;
In 1975, the last remaining crested ibis on the Korean Peninsula disappeared;
Japan's crested ibises began to decline sharply in the 1960s, and in 1975, The Japanese crested ibises were endangered, leaving only 5 wild crested ibises.
Under pressure from public opinion to protect endangered species, they captured the 5 crested ibises and tried to breed them in captivity, but failed.
In 2003, the last remaining wild crested ibis, Xiaojin, died in mainland Japan, and Japan officially declared the extinction of the "Native Japanese Crested Ibis".
So why did the crested ibis, which once roamed the island, experience extinction in Japan?
Japan's last native crested ibis, Xiao Jin
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="01" > why did the crested ibis become extinct in Japan? </h1>
The crested ibises in Japan will experience extinction, which is actually the scourge of human greed.
Shogunate Era: Ornaments
Known as the "peach blossom bird" in Japan, the crested ibis, with its very beautiful and distinctive feathers, coupled with its allegory of imperial symbolism, was often used as an ornament or arrow feather during the shogunate era, which was a symbol of status.
Crested ibises were originally mainly distributed in the eastern region of Japan, but because of the role of feathers, they gradually became popular among the princes, and the princes introduced and bred, and for a time the footprints of the crested ibises spread all over the island.
Meiji Restoration: "Profiteering Business"
In the early days of the Meiji Restoration, with the development of the commodity economy, the crested ibis feathers were no longer just transferred to the hands of the princes, but gradually developed into a trade commodity, earning Japan a huge profit after another;
Subsequently, Japanese merchants were no longer content to profit only from feathers, and they turned their attention to "crested ibis".
Crested ibises have a special status in Japan, And Japanese merchants claim that crested ibis meat is a "high-class food" that replenishes blood and qi, and the meat is delicious, and a small crested ibis is worth 300 yuan, which is hundreds of times more expensive than feathers!
Beginning in the middle of the Meiji Restoration, crested ibises became a source of "windfall profits" for the market, and profit-seeking merchants began unbridled hunting.
Over the next 50 years, the number of crested ibises also plummeted due to indiscriminate killing, and in 1931, there were only more than a hundred left on the island.
The post-war economic era: a fatal blow
After World War II, with the needs of economic development, Japan began to cut down forests in large quantities, while increasing the use of pesticides on farmland to ensure that food production can be maximized.
However, this directly led to the crested ibises having no "home" and the food was contaminated with pesticides.
With nowhere to go and no food to eat, this dealt a fatal blow to the small number of crested ibises that had survived the hunt, and by 1975 there were only five left on the island.
总的来说，日本本土的朱鹮灭绝，根本原因在于人性的贪心、贪财，是他们的逐利的本性导致了朱鹮的悲惨。
At the same time as the extinction of the native crested ibises in Japan, China once thought that the crested ibises had become extinct in China, but "the willows are dark and the flowers are bright", and the heavens still care for us to "plant flowers".
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="01" how did China reproduce from 7 crested ibises to 7,000 >? </h1>
In 1981, the Japanese native crested ibises were on the verge of extinction, and Liu Yinzeng of the Chinese Academy of Sciences finally found 7 wild crested ibises - 2 pairs of adult crested ibises + 3 small crested ibises in Yang County, Shaanxi Province, after a long journey of more than 50,000 kilometers, which also became a turning point in the fate of the global crested ibis.
"The Japanese crested ibises were extinct, and it was at this time that seven crested ibises were found in China. If they are not saved, the crested ibises will disappear from the earth completely, and I want to hurry to China and ask them to formulate countermeasures. ”
Yoshio Muromoto heard the news and couldn't wait to come to China.
In order to protect these 7 "big treasures", we also specially asked people to keep an eye on their whereabouts day and night, which was similar to the cloud supervising the migration of elephants today, but at that time it was with the naked eye.
Different from the way Japan directly captured and artificially reared and bred, our researchers chose to let these 7 wild crested ibises continue to live in their familiar homeland, and adopted two ways of original habitat protection and ex situ conservation to go hand in hand, which is very humane.
In terms of protecting the original habitat of the crested ibis:
Guide and encourage farmers in YangXian County, Shaanxi Province, to reduce the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to ensure the "food safety" of crested ibises;
Extensively plant trees, increase forest coverage throughout the county, expand and preserve natural wetlands, and make crested ibises home;
In 1986, the Shaanxi Crested Ibis Conservation Observatory was established, and when Japan declared the extinction of the native crested ibis, our Crested Ibis National Nature Reserve was officially established.
From living to eating to supervising, it provides all-round protection for the remaining 7 crested ibises.
In terms of ex situ protection:
The seven crested ibises were specially protected and bred, followed by experiments of artificial field incubating and raising crested ibises.
We respect nature, respect the habits of crested ibises, after unremitting efforts, the number of crested ibises in our country has finally achieved a hundredfold or even a thousandfold growth.
In 1998, we also gave Japan "friends" and "foreign countries", and Japan set off a "crested ibis fever" again, and gradually multiplied to nearly a thousand.
In just over thirty years, the number of crested ibises in the world has multiplied to more than 7,000, and the ancestral home of these crested ibises is our Shaanxi YangXian County, which is a very proud thing, worthy of China!
The process of saving the endangered crested ibis in our country is very difficult, but it is the beautiful result of our respect for nature and reverence for nature, so the results are very effective.
The extinction of the crested ibis in Japan is a very painful lesson: no species can go long under the "greed" of man, including man himself;
Have you ever seen a crested ibis? What are your thoughts on the extinction of the native crested ibises in Japan? Welcome to leave a message and communicate with us.
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Resources:
Wang Chao et al., "Population Number and Distribution Status of Wild Crested Ibis", Journal of Zoology, No. 5, 2014, pp. 666-671;