| scientific wormhole
More than 20 years ago, there was a bird that could be seen everywhere like a sparrow in China, some Chinese people raised it as a pet, and some Chinese people brought it to the table, it is a grass finches.
The yellow-breasted bunting (wú) was once widely distributed in Eurasia and had a population of ten. But in just 17 years, its protection level has changed from "no danger" to "extremely dangerous", what happened in the middle?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="42" > the grass finches that were once everywhere</h1>
The grass finches are birds of the order Finches, buntings, and buntings, and friends who do not know birds may mistake it for a sparrow, but in fact it is larger than a sparrow, with a body length of about 15 cm.
The most recognizable thing is the yellow color of the thorax and abdomen, which looks very pleasant, especially the male, with a more vivid yellow. In the past, their breeding area was very vast, and it was found in China, Russia, Japan and other places.
During breeding, they usually move alone or in pairs; once in the non-breeding period, especially during migration and winter, many grass finches will gather to form hundreds of flocks of birds.
If it is people living on the migration route of the grass finches, it is likely that they have seen a large flock of grass finches flying overhead. If at that time someone said that the grass finches would become endangered, few people would have believed it; but now, this little bird has become an endangered animal.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="41" > a shocking "five-level jump"</h1>
Have you ever wondered when the grass finches that were once everywhere disappeared without knowing when they were. This may not be intuitive, and the change in the level of protection is even more shocking.
Image source: Bird Net
In 2000, the protection level of the grass finches was still "no danger", which shows that their natural population is complete and healthy; unexpectedly, after only 4 years, the grass finches became "near-threatened animals";
In 2013, the situation was even more severe, and they were listed as "endangered"; just four years later, they were listed as "critically endangered" in 2017.
You know, our national treasure giant panda is also an endangered animal, but the grass finches have fallen from no danger to near-danger, vulnerable, endangered, and even extremely dangerous, and it has only taken 17 years, which is shocking.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="40" > the disappearance of the grass finches</h1>
In the last century, due to the huge number of grass finches, no one paid attention to them, and even once regarded them as harmful birds, which was related to their feeding habits.
The grass finches are omnivorous birds, but prefer grain to sparrows. Studies have shown that nearly 70% of the food of the grass finches is grain, and the remaining 30% is weeds and insects.
Because of the preference for eating grain, coupled with the passage of China's grain producing areas, and the grain production was the first demand at that time, gradually some people thought that the grass finches were agricultural pest birds, causing certain losses to agriculture.
Therefore, in the 1950s and 1960s, farmers would spontaneously hunt grass finches, and some people would teach methods. Since the 1980s, the global wild population of grass finches has plummeted by 95%.
However, "being hunted by farmers" is not the only reason for their sharp decline.
Most of the grass finches in the migration process, through the central and eastern plains of China, through Guangdong, Hong Kong and other places, and then reach the wintering place.
When flocks of grass finches pass through these places, they can easily be swept away. In the north of China, the grass finches are more likely to be pet birds; in the south, people are more inclined to cook them into dishes, braised, fried, stewed, and cooked in a variety of ways.
In the 1990s, you could easily find the ingredient in the Pearl River Delta and the surrounding area. In 1992, Foshan held the "Hehuaque Food Festival", which was originally intended to promote the economy, but unexpectedly triggered public criticism and was shut down a few years later.
Dongguan will be hehua finch with hehua carp, grass insects and called "three feasts", intended to be packaged into a local characteristic signboard.
Even, the grass sparrow also appeared in the movie "God Eater" released in 1996.
People's pursuit of grass finches has stimulated the practice of indiscriminate fishing, and the increase in demand and the decrease in the number of grass finches have led to a rise in the price of grass finches, from a few cents in the 1950s to thirty or forty yuan in 2013, and the most expensive time was 80 yuan a piece.
What added fuel to the fire was that from nowhere came the saying that "the grass flower sparrow has the effect of tonifying the kidney and aphrodisiac", calling it "heavenly ginseng", which further accelerated the disappearance of this bird.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="31" How to save the sparrow >? </h1>
Can we just let the grass finches disappear into the wild? In fact, China explicitly banned the killing and cooking of grass finches in 1997, but there are still people who are greedy for the economic benefits it brings and turn related trade underground.
There is even a phenomenon of hunting other birds and pulling out feathers to sell as grass finches.
Nowadays, the concept of species protection has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and the protection of grass finches and refusal to eat wild animals is the desire of the people, but it is difficult to guarantee that a small number of people will take risks out of curiosity and good face.
At the end of the day, there is no killing without buying and selling. As consumers, we need to establish a sense of protecting wild animals, and the relevant departments should also strengthen the corresponding publicity work to protect the reproduction of grass and birds.
In addition to consumption, many grass finches also die in other ways, such as the heavy use of pesticides in agriculture around the world, which can also lead to the poisoning of grass finches.
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