Known as the "jewel of the Orient", the crested ibis, can be said to be very precious and rare, the crested ibis was once worshipped as a sacred bird in Japan, but who would have expected that Japan officially declared the extinction of the national bird crested ibis in 2003, that is to say, in Japan can no longer see the trace of the crested ibis, so in the years before 2003, what did the crested ibis experience in Japan? How did it go from endangered to vulnerable in our country? Today, let's learn about the arduous journey of the crested ibis.
The crested ibis is a bird of the family Ibis, with a body length of about 78.3 to 79.3 cm , and has pink feathers on the head , crown , back , wings and tail. However, during the breeding season, the crested ibises have gray feathers on their heads, upper backs and necks. The ancients used the phrase "dancing vermilion herons, coming to Lingchun Pond to perch green trees" to describe crested ibises, that is, when the crested ibises fly, they will reveal the pink feathers under their wings and will perch on the branches. It can also be described as "feathers like scissors like dyes, flying far away to get their wings down". Aquatic creatures such as fish, small river crabs, frogs and insects are all food sources for crested ibises, and crested ibises are sometimes seen in swamps and lakes.
In Japan, the crested ibis was once known as the national bird, but in the 19th century, due to the lack of understanding of the crested ibis, Japanese residents worried that the crested ibis, which likes to find food in the rice fields, would destroy crops, so they labeled the crested ibis, the national bird crested ibis, and since then the crested ibis has been hunted and killed by local people, and the crested ibis's habitat has also been occupied, and eventually the crested ibis has nowhere to escape. Since then, the small crested ibis, which was once everywhere, is endangered. As there is a saying in the movie "The Wandering Earth": "At first no one cared about this disaster, and guiding this disaster is closely related to everyone." By the time the Japanese government realized the seriousness of the problem, the five remaining crested ibises in Japan also died one after another, and in 2003, with the news of the death of the last crested ibis in Japan, Japan officially declared the crested ibises extinct, and since then, the small crested ibises that have been everywhere have been found in Japan. This news has attracted the attention of all countries in the world, and China has also attached importance to the protection of the crested ibis, listing the crested ibis as a national first-level protected animal.
In the 20th century, a number of scientists led by Liu Yinzeng of the Chinese Academy of Sciences rushed to protect the endangered crested ibises in Yangxian County, Shaanxi Province, after tens of thousands of kilometers of field investigation, finally found the only remaining 7 wild populations of the crested ibises, the government is also very concerned about this expedition, set up a scientific group specifically for the protection of endangered crested ibises, not only that, the local government also has some regulations to ensure the reproduction of crested ibises, for example, prohibit the cutting down of trees where crested ibises are located, prohibit hunting in the location of crested ibises, etc. These measures provide a real guarantee that the crested ibises can survive. In addition to the government's concerns, local people have also taken measures to protect the crested ibis, and perhaps people's spontaneous behavior can improve the survival of the crested ibises compared to the government's mandatory requirements.
In China, the reason why the crested ibis can go from the original 7 remaining populations to more than 5,000 today, the desperate life of the crested ibis is inseparable from the government's great attention and strong support for the protection of the crested ibis, the protection of the gene bank, but also inseparable from the efforts of many biological scientists to run, explore and cultivate the crested ibis. Ten years have passed, and they have struggled the road to protecting the crested ibis. Eventually, the crested ibises were removed from the endangered species queue.
Speaking of this, it leads to our clichéd question, that is, how can human beings survive and reproduce endangered species for the protection of endangered species, and the deeds of crested ibises in desperate times have added a glimmer to the dark process of human nature conservation, but in fact, there are many species that are not as lucky as crested ibises, such as the Yangtze River white sturgeon, which has survived on the earth for hundreds of millions of years, and eventually can not escape the fate of extinction; and then the northern white rhinoceros, even under the protection and protection of the army, eventually fell. Therefore, most of the world's endangered species are not few and far between the beginning, but there are many reasons that lead to their gradual extinction. Perhaps it is due to its own inability to adapt to changes in the environment, or perhaps people lack understanding of it, just like people treated crested ibises at the beginning, and by the time people realized it, it was already too late. In the face of wild animals, in addition to government intervention, it is also necessary for local residents to raise awareness of animal protection, only in this way can they live in harmony with nature.
The protection of species in nature also reminds us that in our daily lives, things that are not well understood cannot be easily defined, and if we look at the problem very one-sidedly, it may cause huge losses. Therefore, before taking action, we should understand clearly before considering implementation. Only in this way can we reduce our losses. Finally, the question is, what is China's national bird? Follow me, we'll see you next time.