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Flocks of birds dance in the sky, and their number is unbelievable. If you count chickens bred by humans, they will be among the highest in the world. However, if you start from nature, the red-billed Cuilia finch in Africa has become the king of numbers. Back in 2006, the Natural History of Nesting Birds estimated that the number of red-billed quelia finches in Africa was as high as 1.5 billion, based on satellite remote sensing data. However, as farmers devote more land to cereal crops, this figure is outdated. The number of red-billed queiria finches is still rising, and its peak production may exceed 1.5 billion per year, but the exact number is difficult to know today.
These seemingly weak birds have brought great disaster to the African region. These red-billed quelia finches, although similar in size to the common sparrows we know, are completely different birds. Measuring less than 12 centimeters in length and weighing between 15 and 26 grams, they inhabit mainly African regions and feed on plant seeds. They are constantly on the move in search of food, and their ability to survive is breathtaking. From young to mature, it takes only one year, and it can be reproduced several times a year, and each egg can be laid up to 3 to 6.
The continent has always had problems with food supply, from food security and supply and demand to the fragility of food systems. Many African countries depend on food imports and have few areas that are self-sufficient. Since the rise of agriculture, pests and diseases have been threatening food security. People have always hated "harmful" species, and rats often sneak into homes or farmland to spoil food. And this group of "red-billed queiria finches" is also listed as one of the "pest" species.
The tiny "sparrows" are named by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Important Transboundary Plant Pests and Animal Diseases, describing the red-billed quelia finch as a widespread pest that is extremely destructive to mature grains in semi-arid sub-Saharan Africa. The crops that are usually the most affected are chestnut, sorghum, wheat and rice. Its migration is influenced by the type of rainfall, which mainly affects the growth of grains of some annual grasses, which are ideal food for the pest birds, which migrate over distances of more than 1,000 kilometers, often crossing national borders, and the affected areas may lose most or all of their cereal crops. ”
However, it will not be easy to eliminate this threat. China's early "Four Evils" campaign eradicated sparrows at home on a large scale, but replicating this in Africa is not realistic. The migration path of sparrows covers almost all of China, and there are no barriers to mobilization, such as language, country, or ethnicity. However, Africa's red-billed queiria is distributed in dozens of countries, and cooperation between different countries is difficult to achieve in the situation of perennial civil war. Coupled with the problem of coordination within the multinational state, the difficulty of controlling this "pest bird" is doubled.
In addition, the life habits of the red-billed Quilla finches are also very different from those of sparrows. As a member of the nesting family, they inhabit rainforests and grasslands, areas that are considered almost uninhabited on the African continent. They approach farmland only when looking for food, and often migrate in groups, making them virtually impossible to survive in Africa's natural environment.
Some people may wonder, now that science and technology are so developed, why can't we use the scientific and technological means of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to eradicate this "pest"? However, this approach is equally unworkable. The large-scale eradication of a species will have irreversible effects on the ecological environment. After the mass eradication of sparrows, mainland agricultural production fell to disastrous levels in 1959. In addition to food crops, the sparrow's recipe includes a variety of insects. When all sparrows in an area are wiped out, pests (such as locusts, etc.) in the farmland may have few natural enemies, resulting in a poor harvest the following year.
China's experience in "eliminating the four pests" in the fifties of the last century tells us that the prevention and control of "pests" needs to be adapted to local conditions, scientific and effective. Today, to control the population of the red-billed Quelia finch in Africa, we must first solve the fundamental problems of politics and economics. Only in this way can the goal of "taking in the outside" be achieved, otherwise scientific and technological means alone will not help.
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