Old turtles have always been considered a nourishing animal, so they have been hunted by humans and their numbers have plummeted, making them commonplace at the dinner table now, but now they are very rare.
In addition, not only is the meat of the old turtle rich in nutrition, but its shell is also a valuable thing, and it can be sold for forty or fifty pounds per catty! People are feeling heartache for the sharp decline in the number of old turtles, but recently dozens of catties of old turtles have been appearing in the wild, so how did these come about?
Driven by profits, they hunted and killed on a large scale
The old turtle has a long history in China, is a relative of the turtle, also called Wang Ba and turtle, is a big dish on the table of Chinese, but the old turtle was found to be edible and widely recognized by everyone in the past few decades.
At first, when people found the turtle, they also thought that it was the same species as the turtle, and the turtle has always been a symbol of auspiciousness in ancient times, and everyone wanted to live as long as the turtle, so people thought that the turtle should be like this, so they did not have a heart for the turtle.
Old turtle is a kind of growth and reproduction cycle is extremely fast and short creatures, a single egg can reach more than 20, and a litter can almost survive, they do not pick the living environment at all, can live anywhere.
The main thing is that its life is not threatened, because there are almost no natural predators, and most of the creatures in nature are able to become its food.
After people called the turtle Wang Ba, its name became a joke, but this did not stop the Chinese cooking technology to make people like to eat it.
Because people who have eaten the turtle say that this dish is very delicious, resulting in more and more people enjoying it, people are completely convinced by the firm, thick and chewy meat of the turtle, and the soup it cooks is also very delicious, therefore, the turtle began to appear frequently on the table on various important occasions.
Not only is the meat of the turtle delicious and the soup delicious, but its shell is also very effective, and it is said to have the function of beautifying and nourishing the skin, and it is a good medicine for maintaining collagen that countless women are vying to buy and use.
But in fact, the value of the turtle is far more than that, and even some people raise the turtle as a pet like a turtle, after all, people's preferences are very peculiar, and anything can be a pet.
Combined with all kinds of demand, the demand for the turtle in the market continues to expand, it has caused it to be killed in large quantities, as the saying goes, this thing is rare and expensive, the number of turtles is less, the price will naturally go up, it is said that in 2000, a turtle can be sold for about 100 yuan!
In those days, most people's wages were a few hundred yuan, and one could be worth a week's wages, so it set off a wave of turtle catching, which made the number of old turtles even worse.
People are like gold panning and do not let go of any possible corner, the old turtle under their arrest, gradually endangered, and then the old turtle can hardly be seen in the wild, people seem to gradually forget about it.
I have to say that the old turtles that have such a strong reproductive ability and can be seen everywhere in the wild are hunted to the brink of extinction, and human beings really have something, but every creature that exists in nature has its own ecological chain, and once a link is missing, it will destroy the stability of the ecosphere, so the recovery of the number of old turtles is imminent.
Newly discovered giant soft-shelled turtle in the wild
In recent years, things have ushered in a "turning point", more and more people have found in the wild that it is a giant turtle that is five or six times the size of the old turtle before, they have never seen such a big old turtle, they all think that it is the old turtle that survived after being killed!
But this is not a turtle essence, it is not even a native old turtle on the mainland, but a Florida turtle introduced from Florida in the United States in order to maintain the stability of the biosphere, but why it is found in large quantities in the wild, this question is also a matter of opinion.
In terms of appearance, there is a big difference between the Florida soft-shelled turtle and the Chinese soft-shelled turtle on the mainland, the Florida soft-shelled turtle has a tan oval shell, and there are many round protrusions on the front edge of its shell, which looks like small pearls, so it is also called the pearl soft-shelled turtle.
However, the color of the shell of the traditional turtle is yellow-brown and blue-green, and the shape is more rounded, the most important thing is that there is no pearl-like protrusion on the front edge of the shell, and it is extremely smooth.
If it weren't for the expert identification, many people might think that the Chinese soft-shelled turtle had mutated, but these two are completely different species.
The Florida soft-shelled turtle has stronger reproductive ability and faster growth rate than the Chinese soft-shelled turtle, its weight can grow to eight catties in three years, and it can grow to more than ten catties in five years, and with the increase of age, the weight will only increase.
Therefore, the twenty or thirty pounds of old soft-shelled turtles that people see are already old soft-shelled turtles, and the volume will be so large, but our Chinese soft-shelled turtles are generally in three or four catties, and the heaviest will not exceed 5 catties.
After the Florida soft-shelled turtle replaced the Chinese soft-shelled turtle to the table, everyone was a little surprised, but then immediately felt that such a volume of soft-shelled turtle had a good meaning of longevity, and the accumulated nutrition must be more, so they began to try enthusiastically again.
However, there is still a certain gap between its taste and the Chinese soft-shelled turtle, its meat is not delicious and not smooth, but very woody, and it is still difficult to swallow how many bites you eat, so it is gradually unpopular.
However, chefs who are good at cooking have studied the best way to eat Florida soft-shelled turtles in continuous experiments, so that Florida soft-shelled turtles have won the love of consumers like Chinese soft-shelled turtles, breaking the upset situation.
Although they come from different countries, they are all soft-shelled turtles, and most of the characteristics are still the same, just take the requirements for the place of survival, the Florida soft-shelled turtle and the Chinese soft-shelled turtle are how to live, not picky, so the mainland began to establish Florida soft-shelled turtle breeding sites in many places to provide a steady stream of supply for the market.
Why do Florida soft-shelled turtles flow into the wild?
Originally, it was kept in captivity within the specified range, but people always wanted to get more benefits, so they began to invest in an excessive amount of turtles within the demarcated range, anyway, they thought that the turtles were not picky about the living environment.
But they ignore the influence of natural factors, that is, the rain will overflow the pond where the turtles are raised, so that the excess turtles will be washed away, all efforts will be in vain, and unexpected losses will be caused.
There are also more outrageous people who will go to the market to buy Florida soft-shelled turtles and then come back and release them, because they think that wild animals should be returned to nature and should not be on people's tables.
It's nothing to release alone, but it's terrible to have a large number of people doing this operation, which has caused a large number of Florida turtles to flow into the wild.
Florida soft-shelled turtle is an alien species, if it can not be controlled by man, it will cause a variety of ecological disasters if it flows into the wild, at present, it has been found in important wetlands such as the Yellow River basin on the mainland, they have no natural enemies, and will wantonly eat and destroy the wetland environment.
Wetlands are the kidneys of the earth and function so important, but the Florida soft-shelled turtle's actions have the potential to cause devastating damage to wetland systems.
Moreover, it hunts and eats local small fish, shrimp, aquatic plants and plants in other places, which will greatly damage the local environmental homeostasis and cause serious ecological problems.
Many aquatic organisms have no space and opportunity to live, so the environmental crisis will be deepened, and it is a big challenge to the survival of human beings, and those fishermen who rely on the sea to eat the sea and rely on the water will also be unable to catch fish due to the invasion of the Florida soft-shelled turtle, thus losing the economic source of life.
And now they are still multiplying, more and more in number, the scope of influence is getting bigger and bigger, and in the long run, it is quite "inexhaustible"!
At present, the number of endangered species in the mainland is increasing by a large number every year, and after being made a big fuss by such an uninvited guest as the Florida turtle, it has brought great challenges to our animal protection work.
Many people are saying that crayfish was also an invasive species in the past, but after being eaten in large quantities by the Chinese, it still has to be artificially farmed, and the current Florida turtle can also be solved by eating.
However, it seems to make a lot of sense, but it is not so feasible, because the distribution range of the Florida turtle is so miscellaneous and wide that it takes a lot of effort just to catch it and eat it, so ordinary people basically do not use it as food.
The lobster is concentrated in some waters, and the net is caught as soon as it is cast, which is much more convenient than catching the old turtle.
The most important thing is that the living environment of the Florida turtle is too dirty, it is a cold-blooded animal, it likes dark and damp places with dense microorganisms, and it does not know how many germs it carries, which makes people really dare not eat.
In recent years, people have caused a lot of trouble because of eating wild meat, and now people have been bitten by snakes for ten years and are afraid of well ropes, and they will no longer eat old turtles of unknown origin.
The most important thing is that people's current dietary concepts have also changed, they all prefer vegetarian food, prefer health, these big fish and meat are rarely touched, such a huge, fishy and long strange creatures, and will not become people's eating choices.
Therefore, there is still a long way to go to deal with the Florida soft-shelled turtle, but I believe that the relevant departments of the mainland will be able to find the best response plan to protect the ecological security of the mainland.
epilogue
However, specific things should be treated in detail, and the previous plan should not be used, which not only could not solve the problem, but also completely disrupted the plan, derived more new problems, and then it would be a mess, so the mainland did not use the crayfish method.
I also hope that everyone can have more common sense in life, do not be superstitious, think that the giant turtle is a refinement, to release it to accumulate virtue, will bless you with peace and longevity, this is an extremely unscientific superstitious behavior, but also to increase the burden of environmental governance, is really a superfluous move.