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Text: Bread Clip Knowledge
Edit|Bread Clip Knowledge
«——【Preamble】】 ——»
A few decades ago, it was common to see a strange-looking animal in rivers and ponds.
Its appearance is very similar to that of a turtle, but it is also different, it is called a turtle.
At that time, they were often seen near the water, and they were also very familiar to many people, and they also had a very long history on the mainland, because of their slow growth rate and the difficulty of finding them.
Later, as our lives got better and better, they became very rare, and even disappeared as if they had disappeared for a period of time.
However, now people have found that the turtles that have long been uncommon can now be seen everywhere and even the physique of these turtles is not ordinarily small, they are quite large, and there are many "old turtles" weighing dozens of catties.
Why are there more and more soft-shelled turtles that originally disappeared? You can even often see some "old soft-shelled turtles" of dozens of catties, where did these soft-shelled turtles come from?
«——【··History·】——»
In the eyes of many people, soft-shelled turtles are a rare good thing, and if they were accidentally caught in the wild decades ago.
As long as it is held on the street, there are many buyers who come to buy it, and even for many people, they even increase the price to buy it, which shows the rarity of turtles at that time.
Not only that, the soft-shelled turtle also has a long history in the mainland, according to the relevant historical records, the soft-shelled turtle in the Zhou Dynasty, some ancients began to eat it, and even have always believed that the soft-shelled turtle is a high-quality ingredient to nourish the body.
The ancients of all dynasties were also very fond of turtles, and our ancestors studied a variety of ways to eat, even today.
In ancient times, whether it was a dignitary or a common person, they were also very fond of soft-shelled turtles, because of the soft-shelled turtles, their growth rate was very slow.
It is also believed that the larger the size of the turtle, the longer its age, the richer its nutritional value, and its price is also very expensive.
Turtles also live in freshwater, and a few decades ago, many people could often find turtles in the river, but in some difficult times, many people went to hunt turtles in large quantities in freshwater.
After all, at that time, this kind of thing was naturally delicious and extremely rich in nutritional value, and it was also regarded by many people as a good thing for big supplements.
Its edible methods are even more varied, and the methods are also various, especially since entering modern times, many wild turtles in the mainland have been caught in large quantities.
This also led to the fact that the number of soft-shelled turtles in the wild was also decreasing, until later, many people could not see soft-shelled turtles in the wild at all.
Many old people even said, not to mention a big old turtle, and even the small one can't be seen, but in recent years, there has been a very strange thing, which was not common at all, but now there are more turtles.
Even more puzzling is that many of the turtles that appear now are very big with their heads, and all of them are dozens of catties, and it is no exaggeration to say that in recent years, the "giant turtles" have frequently appeared in the news in various places.
«——[Now there are more and more?·]——»
In May 2021, a villager in Nanyang, Henan Province, accidentally picked up a giant turtle, which was about 75 centimeters long and weighed 46 kilograms.
According to the villagers, it was accidentally discovered at night, and the appearance of this "old turtle" stunned many people, after all, the villagers had never seen such a big "old turtle", and some people even wanted to buy a giant turtle for 20,000 yuan.
In 2018, in a mountain reservoir in Huaihua, Hunan, a turtle was also found in the silt at the bottom of the reservoir, and its weight also reached twenty or thirty pounds.
News of the appearance of this giant turtle abounds, and some people say that the appearance of this "old turtle" is the best reason for our environment.
In the folk, people also have great respect for this old turtle, because in many folklore, this is also called the turtle god, the bigger the size, the more spiritual.
Could it be that the appearance of these old turtles is due to the fact that the environment is getting better and better? But many experts do not think so, because many experts have gone to the places where the old turtles were found and identified these "old turtles".
I heard that these old turtles are very large, and almost uncommon now, but this kind of turtle is very different from our native turtle in China, in fact, in a strict sense, this huge old turtle is actually an invasive species.
Its appearance is not a good thing for the mainland, because the name of these huge turtles is "pearl turtles", which is an invasive species from the United States.
Compared with the mainland native soft-shelled turtles, although it is very similar in appearance, it is famous for growing fast, and the small pearl soft-shelled turtles born are likely to be only about 10g, but after a year of growth, they can easily rise to 250g.
And because they are not too picky about the environment, they also eat a lot of food, almost everything in fresh water.
So their growth rate is also very fast, generally speaking, it only takes three or four years to grow to four or five kilograms, and in five or six years, you can find more than ten kilograms.
But what makes people very puzzled is why this pearl turtle, which originally grew in the United States, appeared on the mainland?
In fact, the main reason is that people have too much demand for this animal, and the turtles in the mainland are less and less in the wild due to people's large number of fishing, and their growth and breeding are also very slow.
Moreover, people have a great demand for this kind of native soft-shelled turtle, so their slow growth and slow growth have become the biggest disadvantage of artificial breeding.
However, it has been found that there is a kind of pearl turtle in the United States, and its size or growth rate is almost several times higher than that of the native turtle in the mainland.
Therefore, many businessmen, in order to fill the vacancy in the mainland market, introduced a large number of pearl turtles from the United States.
Because of this species, the pearl turtle not only grows fast, but also has a strong reproductive ability, and the most important thing is that it is not so picky about the environment, its food sources are also very messy, and the feeding method is almost very simple.
However, the pearl soft-shelled turtle, and the mainland native soft-shelled turtle, although the appearance is very similar, but if the taste is still very different if eaten, some farmers are not well managed, and some pearl soft-shelled turtles accidentally escaped to the wild.
This has led to the rapid reproduction and development of pearl turtles in the wild where there are no natural predators and where the environment is suitable, which also causes invasion of local species.
This kind of pearl turtle, because of its very strong survivability, can often be seen in many freshwater on the mainland, compared with the mainland's native soft-shelled turtle, it is a big blow.
However, it is also very damaging to the ecology, and they can often be found near many rivers and ponds on the mainland.
And it is also a huge threat to many freshwater farmers, because of their large size, so many pearl turtles eat a lot of food.
In the past, the native soft-shelled turtles on the mainland were all rare and expensive, but now, the pearl soft-shelled turtles invaded by the United States have their presence in almost all freshwater on the mainland.
«——【Differences·】——»
If you see a more than seven or eight catties in the wild, it is likely to be a pearl turtle that belongs to the invasion of foreign countries, in fact, it can be distinguished, and the characteristics of pearl turtle and Chinese turtle are also obvious.
The main reason why the pearl turtle has such a peculiar name is that there are many pearl particles around its back carapace, which is very different from the native turtle in the mainland.
Don't be surprised if you're in the wild and see a very large pearl turtle, as it is the most obvious intruder that covers almost all the water.
When we encounter them, we must also hand them over to the relevant departments for processing, rather than releasing them at will, because their survival ability is particularly strong, so if they are released, it will also have a huge impact on our ecology.
Now, it is not that dozens of catties of old turtles are very common, but this kind of pearl turtle that invades our native area, its existence, belongs to an invasive species.
Reference:
1. A 46-pound hundred-year-old giant turtle in Nanyang was caught ashore: someone bid 20,000 yuan to buy it, and the villagers decisively refused and released it———— People's Consultation2021.05.08