The content described in this article is based on official and reliable sources, which are repeated at the end of this article
"Rats cross the street, everyone shouts and fights!"
In the rural areas of the northern part of the mainland, there is such an animal, its eyesight is not allowed to live on the ground, can only hide in the soil to dig holes and steal the roots and stems of plants, causing great damage to agricultural production, every autumn and winter, they will also rob the peasants of food, which makes people hate it.
Can you imagine that the "pest beast" that everyone once shouted at has now turned into a scarce Chinese medicinal material, and its bones are as high as more than 300 yuan a catty!
So what exactly is this "pest beast"? Why are its bones so valuable?
Calling a sheep is not a sheep
The real name of this "pest beast" is the mole, and I believe that many old farmers retain a deep impression of it, right?
Because it looks like a sheep and lives underground all year round, many people will call it "ground sheep", and people in some areas will call it a blind mouse, a ground row, a blind mouse, a blind mouse, etc.
Compared with ordinary mice, this kind of mole is stout, generally about 15~27 cm, don't look at its short limbs, but it is very powerful, especially the forefoot claws are particularly developed, directly beyond other finger lengths, and its third toe is also a powerful tool to help it dig holes.
This species of mole is mainly distributed in Siberia and the Mongolian People's Republic of Russia, and is only found in the northeastern provinces, as well as Shanxi, Qinghai and other regions on the mainland. Due to its natural lack of eyesight, it rarely comes out during the day, like a diurnal rodent.
The dangers of moles
Squirrels are herbivores, mainly living on the roots, stems and seeds of plants, and often plague the crops in the field, which is extremely destructive to the crop harvest.
And although the weeds are eaten, they will still grow in the spring of the next year, but the mole not only eats the weeds, but also likes all kinds of grain grown by the farmer's uncle, and what a great damage to the production of food? After all, the growth of plants depends on the roots.
And the amount of food of this mole is still very large, and it can eat something equivalent to its own weight in one night, which is a very headache for farmers, after all, they are ready to rely on this harvest to earn money after a hard year, but it has not yet grown and has been destroyed by most of the mole rats.
And their numbers are also very large, not only can they eat, they will also store food, which leads to often digging holes in the ground one after another, which will not only cause land loss, but also cause the phenomenon of running water around when the farmer uncle goes to water.
In the early years, the countryside of Northeast China has been using earthen dams, just like the saying "a thousand miles of embankments collapse in an anthill", if the mole is allowed to act recklessly, it is likely that the entire earthen dam will be destroyed.
If it is winter, the mole will store a lot of food, which is not only a matter of eating, they will often be directly uprooted, which is irretrievable from the destruction of food, and they will also eat the plants on the ground, some areas with serious mole will lead to the gradual desertion of grassland vegetation.
Of course, these problems are relatively small, and these squirrels will also dig holes in river embankments, grasslands and other areas, which has seriously damaged the functions of flood control and sand fixation, thereby accelerating soil erosion and grassland degradation.
Controlling the mole rats
In order to control the mole squirrel, the farmers and uncles also tried all kinds of methods, from arranging rat traps, to irrigating and flooding holes, to poisoning and killing, all of which were used.
However, the results are not ideal, because the underground passages of the moles are too dense, and due to the evolution of being in the underground environment for a long time, the moles also have their own defensive measures, when their burrow entrance is exposed, the mole squirrels will close the entrance for a short time, thus reducing the risk of survival.
And if you use poisoning to kill, it is likely to be eaten by children, or it will cause the death of some animals that eat squirrels by mistake, because the living environment of squirrels overlaps with humans very highly, in order to prevent poisonous squirrels from polluting water and food, causing harm to the health of humans and other animals, this method is the last thing people want to use.
Moreover, the mole squirrel will also be killed by natural enemies, including snakes, owls, weasels, etc., but due to changes in ecological reasons, the number of these natural enemies is gradually decreasing.
There are some ordinary hunting behaviors, that is, when people find out, they directly use hoes to stone, and when they encounter some mole rats that are more serious to the area, they will also find people who specialize in rodent extermination to help eradicate them, and the price should be paid according to how much money a mole rat has.
Fortunately, the reproduction of squirrels is not too fast, they generally breed in 3~9 months, and only produce 2 litters a year, and the number of litters per litter is also 1~8, with the changes of nature, such as Shanxi and Hebei and other regions, the number of moles has decreased significantly.
Discover the value of the mole squirrel
At first, people began to try this "game" in order to better solve the problem, of course, this is also a very small minority group, with the improvement of living standards, people began to notice the value of the mole squirrel, and it has also become a "treasure" that everyone hopes to meet in recent years.
Because the mole's fur is a good fur, and its fur is soft enough to be used in the process of making clothes, but because it is too small and not in large quantities, its fur is not too economically valuable.
However, the medicinal value of the squirrel is very high, its bones can be used as a traditional Chinese medicine, in traditional Chinese medicine, it is believed that this drug is cold, can treat the early stage of lymphatic system tumors, aplastic anemia, chemotherapy, radiotherapy caused by leukopenia, chronic hepatitis, lupus erythematosus.
Moreover, it has been discovered that the bones of the mole can be used as a substitute for tiger bones, also known as the Theron bone.
Tiger bone is a very precious Chinese medicinal material, it has a variety of effects such as tonifying the kidney and strengthening bones, dispelling rheumatism, relieving pain, etc., but with the number of tigers is now decreasing, the state has begun to list it as a protected animal, and it is forbidden to use tiger bone as a medicine.
In the past, there were poachers who would stealthily hunt them, but now. This is simply unrealistic, so it is nonsense to use tiger bones as medicinal materials, so the Chinese medicine community has been looking for medicinal materials that can replace tiger bones, with the aim of excavating this animal with the same effect.
When people find that the medicinal value of the bones of the squirrel and the tiger bone is almost the same, it has also changed from everyone shouting and beating, and has become a treasure that people compete to like, after long-term research, the bones of the squirrel are air-dried and used in medicinal materials, which can treat rheumatism, paralysis, fractures, arthritis and other diseases, and can also make collagen and other health products.
And the artificially bred mole is also edible, its meat is delicious, delicate and fragrant, and the taste is also very good, in some areas, it has gradually become a delicacy on the table.
Even the gums of the mole can be used to treat lupus erythematosus, joint pain and other problems, of course, these need to be carefully followed by the doctor's instructions, and must not be used at will.
Since the value of the mole was discovered, its demand has also increased significantly, and its value has changed from no one to more than 300 yuan a catty, and there are even out-of-stock situations in some areas.
Artificially farmed
With the destruction of the wild environment in recent years, as well as the extensive use of pesticides, coupled with the elimination of rodent pests in many aspects, the number of mole squirrels has also declined rapidly.
In order to meet the needs of the market, some people saw business opportunities and began to breed moles, which are actually very good to breed, because squirrels can adapt to the environment very well, but in the process of breeding, we must pay attention to prevent escape, after all, squirrels are best at digging holes.
Then when feeding, you can use dandelion, tartary buckwheat, rehmannia root, etc., using regular and quantitative scientific methods for feeding, of course, in the process of breeding must pay special attention to the health of the squirrel.
In general, there are records of "plague" in estimates and novels, so in order to ensure safety and property safety, it is necessary to detect and treat early in the process of breeding to prevent the occurrence of epidemics.
Artificially bred mole, its annual number of fetuses is 2~3 fetuses, and the number of each fetus is also 4~6, more than 8 may reach more, after 10 days of pups, you can feed some potatoes and grass roots, and after 20 days, these pups can live independently.
epilogue
The mole squirrel has changed from a "pest animal" in the countryside at that time to a "gold" whose value has skyrocketed, although it is said that the artificial breeding is still in the early stage, and a large number of wild squirrels are still sold on the market, which has led to the price being as high as 300 yuan a catty.
Although people began to find ways to catch squirrels, and with their reproductive ability and artificial breeding, they did not become scarce animals, but perhaps this is not a good thing for farmers, because they continue to plague their crops and dig their land.
In any case, the life of any animal has its meaning of existence, and I believe that in the near future, this problem can be improved, so that farmers will no longer suffer from the problem of mole squirrels in the process of growing food, and the price will be lower when we eat Chinese medicinal materials from mole bones.
What do you think about the mole? Welcome to leave a message in the comment area to discuss!
Information sources:
Encyclopedia of China, Third Edition, Online Edition: Chinese Mole
The Paper - "The World Rat Affair: An Epic History of the Mole Splitting Family"
Agriculture Channel "How to Control the Prairie Mole" 2004.11.19
New Rural Business Network "Northeast Mole"