The new coronavirus opened the "magic door" of 2020, followed by the Australian forest fires, hundreds of thousands of bat troops invading the city, the outbreak of avian influenza in Denmark, Ukraine, Poland and other countries, and the large-scale severe locust plague in Africa... Major disasters followed.
A closer look at the beginning and end of each disaster is inextricably linked to the creatures of nature. "Life Times" (WeChat search "LT0385" can be followed) interviewed authoritative experts to uncover the various crimes committed by humans against wild animals, hoping that in the future, everyone can have more respect for nature and more responsibility for the earth.
Experts interviewed
Wu Fan, director of the Industrial Aquaculture Research Office of the Fishery Machinery and Instrument Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences
Nie Jing, Associate Professor, Environmental Pollution and Health Research Laboratory, Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences
Jiang Zhigang, researcher and doctoral supervisor of the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
The author of this article | Wang Lianyan, special correspondent of Life Times
This article was edited | Zhao Jiayin and Zhao Ziying
Man-made noise "drives" fish crazy
Human exploitation of the oceans has brought about various forms of pollution, of which the often overlooked is anthropogenic noise pollution, which has a huge impact on marine life.
The common man-made noise in the ocean is mainly divided into three categories: ship noise, sonar noise and underwater engineering noise (such as underwater piling, underwater drilling and blasting noise, etc.). Taking common ship noise as an example, its sound intensity is generally 150 to 200 decibels, and as the density of maritime shipping increases, it increases by another 0.5 decibels per year; while the sound intensity of jet aircraft takeoff is only about 125 decibels. Marine life lives in this roar every day.
Noise can cause marine animals to change plankton and diving patterns, change their pronunciation, and even cause them to be unable to avoid obstacles and cause fatal collisions. Studies have shown that the noise generated by sonar interferes with the ability of whales and dolphins to use their own sounds to prey, causing some cetaceans, especially turve-beaked whales, to frighten them, prompting them to rush out of the water, with dangerous consequences.
Exposure of marine animals to high-intensity sounds may also result in temporary hearing loss or decreased sensitivity. When the sound intensity is high enough, the animal's hearing will be permanently lost and the sensitivity will be permanently weakened. For some species, noise is more directly fatal, such as cod fish with inflatable bladders, which can explode and die due to noise.
The ability of seawater deep in the ocean to absorb sound waves is now 40% weaker than before the industrial era, which means that marine life will also be drastically reduced.
Light pollution leaves frogs sterile
Nowadays, the city is brightly lit at night, and the stars and moon are dark. When the light radiation increases to a certain amount, it will have adverse effects on the environment and human health, causing "light pollution", and animals are also one of the victims.
Human lights disrupt the physiological rhythm of many nocturnal animals, and their harm is no less than the shrinking of habitat. A frog that likes to chirp at night will not make a sound if there is a strong light around it. Male frogs do not bark, they can not attract female frogs to breed offspring. Under the light, fireflies cannot mate properly.
In 2019, the American Institute of Animal Lighting referred to more than 200 independent studies, and published a paper in the scientific journal Bioprotection, stating: "A large amount of artificial light at night affects the development, movement, foraging, reproduction and predation of insects." ”
Swedish scientists have found that when the moth feels that it has been positioned by the bat's ultrasonic, it will swoop without a certain route in a hurry to avoid the bat attack; but when the moth is exposed to artificial light sources, it cannot use this defense correctly, which greatly interferes with the moth's normal life ability.
In fact, billions of moths and other nocturnal insects die in the light each year. Research from the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom shows that male robins actively defend high-quality habitats with their calls, but male robins near the illuminated trails are less aggressive and unable to defend their territory.
It is not only animals that are affected by light pollution, but sometimes plants are also indirectly affected. Researchers at bern University in Switzerland found that light pollution led to about 62 percent fewer visits to flowers by nighttime pollinator vectors, such as moths and beetles.
Greedy hunting and killing almost extinct tigers and leopards
According to the "Life force of the earth report 2018" released by the World Wide Fund for Nature, 60% of the world's wildlife has died out in 44 years, and human activities directly pose the greatest threat to biodiversity. Between 1970 and 2010, the number of terrestrial vertebrate populations in China decreased by 50%, of which amphibian and reptile species declined the most, at 97%.
Human hunting is responsible for the disappearance of many wild animals. For example, the Caribbean monk seal is an ancient and rare seal that was once abundant in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean Sea, but due to the high use value of seal fur and seal oil, they were indiscriminately hunted and killed by humans until 2008, when the Caribbean monk seal was declared extinct.
The Javanese tiger was one of the most common tigers in the 19th century, but as their habitats continued to be invaded by humans, they were either poisoned or hunted down. In June 1983, the last Javanese tiger died at the zoo in Jakarta.
In my country, there are countless such examples. In Guangdong, it was said that eating grass finches can nourish the body, so this small bird, which was originally as ubiquitous as sparrows, was upgraded from "endangered" to "critically endangered" in the red list of the official website of the World Conservation Union. This means that its wild population is already on the line.
The high-nosed antelope was originally distributed near Inner Mongolia because its horns were a valuable medicinal herb in traditional Chinese medicine, and before the 1960s they completely disappeared due to human hunting...
According to statistics, 75 species go extinct worldwide every day, and 3 species disappear every hour.
Chemicals poison countless birds of prey
The use of chemical agents brings certain convenience to human production and life, but they flow into nature, but for some animals, it is a disaster.
The kuáng is an awe-inspiring bird of prey that inhabits western North America in the summer and 10,000 kilometres from the wintering grounds of the Pampas and farmland habitats in the winter.
Sven's owls are good at eating insects, such as grasshoppers, dragonflies, beetles, etc. Unfortunately, local farmers use pesticides to control grasshoppers and locusts, which has been a major trigger for the sharp decline in Sven's hawk population and racial decline. Between 1995 and 1996, 6,000 Sven's flies were killed by the poison. In the fields, the bodies of these birds of prey that should have flown on the migration route can be seen everywhere.
The veterinary painkiller diclofenac is an anti-inflammatory drug used to treat domestic animals, and once a vulture pounces on the carcasses of poultry that has taken this medicine, its liver is affected and it dies of acute kidney failure within a few days. After investigation, this substance is the "culprit" that caused the sharp decline in the number of white-backed bald eagles, long-billed bald eagles and slender-billed bald eagles in the East.
Due to chemical leakage, decreased immunity and other reasons, the number of bees in the United States has decreased significantly. According to an investigation by the University of Maryland in the United States and the British Department of Agriculture, a large number of toxic pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, etc. are present in pollen samples, which may be one of the reasons for the sharp decline in bee populations.
Climate change is leaving animals homeless
Global warming has left some animals homeless. The drastic reduction of Arctic glaciers has deprived polar bears of their proper living space and even no "foothold". Although polar bears can swim, they cannot stay in water for long, and they are now at risk of extinction.
Marine life such as corals, shellfish and fish are also affected by climate change. Acidification of seawater will dissolve coral reefs and the animals that live in them will be homeless.
As the seasonal rivers formed by glaciers decreased, some wetlands were affected, and plants that grew on the wetlands were the main food of voles, which in turn fed many birds. The disappearance of voles has made it impossible for many migratory birds to survive and have to find alternative habitats.
According to the Wildlife Conservation Society International, climate change is making the 12 most deadly diseases currently deadliest to humans and wildlife (including Ebola, cholera, plague, sleeping sickness, etc.) more widespread and faster.
Changes in the water environment caused by climate change have changed the water source conditions of the natural environment, resulting in more wild animals entering the breeding environment of livestock and poultry, thereby increasing the chance of contact between diseased wild animals and poultry.
"The Wandering Earth" said: "At first, no one cared about this disaster, it was just a fire, a drought, the extinction of a species, the disappearance of a city... Until this disaster, it is closely related to everyone. Hopefully, humans will learn a lesson and not let the knife that cuts the animal one day cut itself.
Source: Life Times