"Green peacock, green peacock, green peacock, where are you?" Surrounded by clouds and smoke, hidden paths, you are a divine bird; the years are beautiful, the wind is dazzling, you are a heavenly immortal..." A group of children dressed in white, with a childish and crisp child's voice repeatedly calling at the water's edge, in the forest, looking for green peacocks, that love and beautiful moments infiltrated people's hearts.
On September 5, in order to welcome the upcoming COP15 event, the Meili Yongheng Children's Choir uploaded the MV (music video) of its original song "Green Peacock" to the WeChat video account, and left a message: "The green peacock was once a 'sacred bird' widely existing in the land of China, but now it has become an endangered species." Protecting the green peacock not only has ecological value, but also has cultural significance. "Aren't peacocks found in many places, how can they be endangered?" Some netizens were curious. The choir staff replied: "What we commonly see now is the blue peacock, which is the national bird of India. The green peacock is our native species in China and is already an endangered species.
Is this really the case? The reporter came to the Kunming Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and asked Yang Xiaojun, a researcher in the bird group, for verification. The scientist who has studied the green peacock for nearly 30 years gave the answer: the blue peacock is india's national bird, and very early began to be artificially domesticated and raised, so it is more common, but there is no natural distribution of wild blue peacocks in China; green peacocks have always been distributed in China and Southeast Asia, according to research, in Henan found more than 5,000 years ago peacock fossils, and until the Ming Dynasty Guangdong, Guangxi also lived green peacocks, green peacock distribution shrunk to Yunnan is basically after the Qing Dynasty. According to the monitoring of 2019-2021, the number of wild populations of green peacocks in China is only about 555-600. Researcher Yang Xiaojun further introduced that in 1988, the IUCN Red Book of Endangered Species listed the green peacock as a threatened species, in 1994 as a vulnerable (VU) species, and in 2009 as an endangered (EN) species; today, as the flagship species in Yunnan, the green peacock has been listed as a national key protected bird.
The green peacock must not be allowed to become a beautiful memory
"A lot of people confuse green peacocks with blue peacocks, which is a big misunderstanding." Yang Xiaojun clicked on the picture on his computer and began to popularize how to distinguish between green peacocks and blue peacocks. First, look at their crown feathers: the green peacock's crown feathers are straight upwards, each feather is like a willow leaf; the blue peacock's crown feathers are fan-shaped, and each feather is like a small badminton racket. Secondly, the green peacock has a very obvious green copper coin-like marking from the neck to the chest; the blue peacock's neck and forebreather are a piece of blue filamentous feathers, without scaly spots. Third, the cheeks of the green peacock are yellow and royal blue, and the blue peacock is white. In addition, the wings of the green peacock are blue or green, and the wings of the blue peacock have a black-brown pattern. In this way, the green peacock and the blue peacock can be intuitively distinguished from the crown feathers, neck, cheeks and wings.
To help more people figure out the difference between these two peacocks, in order to raise everyone's awareness of protecting green peacocks. In 2018, when doing the green peacock survey, Yang Xiaojun found that many zoos or breeding institutions marked with green peacocks are actually not purebred green peacocks, but basically hybrid individuals of blue and green peacocks. In response, another set of long-term research data shows that in the 1990s, the population of Chinese green peacocks in Yunnan was about 800 to 1100, and the number of wild chinese green peacocks in 2014-2017 was less than 500.
"The peacock flies southeast for five miles and wanders", the figure of the green peacock was once widely spread in the land of China, and has been regarded as a symbol of honor and auspiciousness for thousands of years. From the Classic of Mountains and Seas, the Book of Poetry, and the Han Le Fu, ancient Chinese literature frequently left the text of singing the green peacock; from the Bronze Mirror of the Tang Dynasty, the Porcelain of the Song Dynasty to the official clothes of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the image of the green peacock will be used to brocade with phoenix robes and embroidered with flower plumes. When talking about the background of the song "Green Peacock" created for the Meili Yongheng Children's Choir, composer Teacher Fang Bing once sighed: "The green peacock has become the embodiment of the phoenix in the hearts of Chinese, and the phoenix totem based on it has long penetrated into the civilization of the Chinese land." However, before we had time to truly understand this "heavenly immortal" beautiful big bird, the figure of the green peacock could only be found in a very small number of areas in the twenty counties of our province.
This beautiful species that has existed on the earth for thousands of years must not be allowed to become a memory, and the protection of the green peacock has aroused everyone's active attention.
Continue to increase the protection of green peacocks
The reporter learned from the Forestry and Grassland Bureau of Yunnan Province that in order to protect and save wild green peacocks, our province listed green peacocks as a very small population species in Yunnan Province in 2009. Since the "13th Five-Year Plan", with the strong support of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration, a total of 12.27 million yuan of special funds have been invested, mainly 5 measures have been taken to continuously increase the protection of green peacock populations and their habitats.
Establishment of nature reserves. Among the nature reserves at all levels established in our province, there are 7 protected areas with green peacock distribution, including: 2 national-level protected areas, 2 provincial-level protected areas, and 3 state-level protected areas. The number of green peacocks distributed in the reserve accounts for about 1/3 of the total.
Implement investigation and monitoring. In 6 important habitats of green peacocks in 5 states (cities), a normalized monitoring system combining infrared cameras and video monitoring has been deployed and built. Successively organize the implementation of the green peacock wild population survey and patrol monitoring project: complete the survey of the current situation of the green peacock population in the middle and upper reaches of the Yuanjiang River in 2017, complete the green peacock population and distribution survey in the province in 2018, and implement the whole territory survey and monitoring from 2020 to 2021. Through annual data analysis and evaluation, timely adjustment of protection countermeasures.
Strengthen habitat conservation and restoration. Continuously explore the protection mode of habitat outside the protected area, rely on the State-owned Forest Farm in Pu'er City to manage and protect nearly 300 hectares of green peacock habitat, and demarcate a green peacock protection community with an area of about 1410 hectares in Xinping Yi dai autonomous county in Yuxi City, and set up a special patrol team. At the same time, pilot projects for the removal, water replenishment and feeding of alien species have been implemented in important habitats, and the growth of wild populations has been explored by improving the suitability of habitat environments.
Carry out artificial breeding. Relying on the Rescue and Breeding Center of Wild Animals and Plants in Yunnan Province, the Green Peacock Artificial Breeding Base was built, and the relevant scientific research units were jointly carried out to carry out green peacock artificial breeding research.
In-depth popularization of law. In view of the surrounding area of the green peacock distribution area, we have extensively carried out the activities of popularizing the law into villages and households and entering the campus, advocating that the community masses carry out green planting, not sowing coated seeds, and reducing human interference activities during the breeding season, and striving to improve the awareness of the masses to protect.
The green peacock population is steadily rising
The reporter learned a set of data from the Provincial Forestry and Grassland Bureau: the 2018 survey showed that the number of green peacocks in Yunnan was 485-547; the monitoring of 2019-2021 showed that the number of green peacocks in Yunnan was 555-600, of which the wild green peacock population was the most concentrated in the valley area of the middle and upper reaches of the Yuan River, and the population was the largest, and the population was in a stable growth trend due to effective protection measures.
Yang Xiaojun introduced that through a series of efforts, the current number of green peacocks in the wild has risen steadily, the quality of habitats has improved significantly, the demonstration results of government-community-community co-management have emerged, and the artificial population of green peacocks has been initially established.
According to the results of infrared cameras and video monitoring in a number of protected areas, in recent years, the number of green peacock populations in our province has increased steadily, and there is a trend of transfer and diffusion in some areas. In 2015, the green peacocks were only scattered in 2 areas, with a population of less than 40 in the Shuangbai Dinosaur River State Nature Reserve, while the monitoring results in 2019 showed that green peacocks were found in the suitable distribution areas of the reserve, and the population has been stable at more than 100. At the same time, in the area where there was no green peacock distribution in the upper basin of the Lishe River, the green peacock population was rediscovered and showed signs of population spread. The monitoring results of the green peacock habitat condominium protection community in Waist Village, Xinping County also show that the number of green peacocks has increased from 23 to 41 in three years, and the habitat range is expanding year by year. In addition, the number of green peacocks in Yubaiding Nature Reserve in Yuxi City, Yuanjiang National Nature Reserve and Weiguo State-owned Forest Farm in Pu'er City is also recovering and growing.
Since 2018, our province has strengthened the inspection of green peacock habitat and personnel control, tried its best to reduce human interference, and effectively protected the safety of green peacock habitat. For example, in the Dinosaur River State-level Nature Reserve, 9 projects such as the implementation of green peacock species protection have been carried out; 1 hydropower station has been stopped, 1 hydropower station under construction and 1 hydropower station has been demolished, and 6 mining areas have been remedied; in the restoration of vegetation, taking into account the living habits of green peacocks, some areas have adopted the combination of "Joe-irrigation-grass (beans)" to increase the habitat and food source of green peacocks. In 2020, the potential habitat of the green peacock will be integrated and optimized, and the area of the optimized Shuangbai Dinosaur River Conservation Area will be increased by nearly 1 times.
In October 2017, in Xinping County, Wai Village explored and formulated a habitat protection plan led by the Grass-roots Forestry and Grassland Bureau and jointly managed by non-governmental public welfare environmental protection institutions and communities, explored a new model of protection in which green peacocks and communities coexist in harmony under the background of non-protected areas, and stimulated the willingness of villagers to voluntarily protect with community construction, so as to achieve harmonious coexistence between the community and nature and win-win results for all parties. For example, promote villagers to adopt new beehive beekeeping, organize a series of training and on-site guidance, and increase the income of community residents, so as to closely link community residents with green agriculture and a good ecological environment. After three years of practice, the enthusiasm of the community to participate in the protection has been greatly improved, and the number of green peacocks in the reserve has increased significantly.
Nowadays, in the rescue and breeding center of wild animals and plants in Yunnan Province, a green peacock artificial breeding base has been built, and the relevant scientific research units such as the Kunming Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have jointly carried out research on the artificial breeding of green peacocks. Fortunately, the 21 green peacocks collected so far have laid more than 100 eggs and hatched 27 chicks, and the pure-bred artificial population identified by genomics has been initially established.
This year, the kunming institute of zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences applied molecular biology technology analysis showed that the historical change process of the green peacock's population decline and southward shift of the distribution area was mainly affected by human activities. Therefore, Yang Xiaojun firmly believes that by increasing investment in conservation, actively implementing conservation measures, and trying to reduce human interference, the recovery of the green peacock population is very promising. At the same time, he also suggested that the state organize and carry out the investigation and assessment of the green peacock habitat as soon as possible, delineate the important habitat of the green peacock; expand the scope of habitat protection and implement the community co-management protection model; implement protection compensation in the demarcated important habitat range, support the surrounding communities to develop ecological agriculture; support the acceleration of the breeding of pure breeding of green peacocks and gradually implement the rewilding and repatriation...
"Listen to the legend, the whispers of the top of the Spirit Mountain, the grass and wood spirit springs that love your life, the refreshing breeze in the cold of ren years, the green feather crown that stretches your low hanging..." In the Meili Yongheng Children's Choir, children will earnestly learn to sing this "Green Peacock" word by word every year, and the choir hopes that after the children have been immersed in the culture of loving nature for a long time, they will grow into cherished, put wings on the song, and spread love and beauty.
【Further reading】
The flagship species of Leju Yunnan
The green peacock is one of the flagship species in Yunnan, and along with it, it is also included in the "flagship" ranks as Asian elephants, Yunnan golden snub-nosed monkeys and other star animals in everyone's eyes.
What is a "flagship species"? This term is translated from the English "flagship species", referring to a species has a special appeal and attraction to the social ecological protection force, can promote the society's attention to species protection, is a representative species of regional ecological maintenance, and its charm (appearance or other characteristics) has won people's love and attention (such as giant pandas, golden snub-nosed monkeys, etc.).
The proposal of the flagship species is mainly due to the limited resources invested in conservation, so the species with high public attention are selected as the objects of key conservation research and implementation, hoping not only to protect the species, but also to promote the protection of other rare and endangered species.
Yunnan is known as the "animal kingdom" and "plant kingdom" reputation, the province's wild animal and plant resources as a whole show the characteristics of "many types, small numbers, narrow distribution", occupy an important position in the protection and management of wild animals and plants in China and the world, and therefore highly concerned at home and abroad, and have great responsibility for protection. To protect these flagship species, it is necessary to start from the protection of their habitats and the study of their conservation biology, so our province has set up a special "Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Center" to systematically and deeply carry out investigation and research work with biodiversity in nature reserves as the main research goal.
The following is a brief introduction to several flagship species that are representative of our province -
Asian elephant
The Asian elephant is the largest and most representative terrestrial vertebrate in Asia, belonging to the flagship species and star species of tropical forest ecosystems, and belongs to the extremely small population species in China, which has attracted widespread attention at home and abroad.
In China, asian elephants are currently distributed only in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Pu'er City and Cangyuan Wa Autonomous County in Lincang City, Yunnan. The Asian elephant population is small, the distribution area is narrow and scattered, and in 1989, it was listed as the first batch of national level I key protected wild animals in China. Based on the results of sporadic surveys in the past few years and monitoring results in recent years, the distribution of Asian elephants in China has undergone a process of contraction and expansion. In the past 20 years, our province has taken a variety of measures to protect Asian elephants, and its distribution area has expanded from 2 prefectures and 3 counties to 3 prefectures, 9 counties and municipalities, and 40 townships. So far, the number of Asian elephants has grown from 150 to about 300.
The monitoring of wild Asian elephants, from the early manual tracking, to the later unmanned aerial vehicle monitoring, and then to the establishment of a composite monitoring and early warning and information release platform composed of artificial, unmanned aerial vehicles and infrared camera arrays, can fully grasp the location and activities of wild Asian elephants. By providing timely and accurate monitoring and early warning information for villagers in the Asian elephant activity area, the safety of local villagers' lives and property is guaranteed. At the same time, according to the monitoring data, the information such as the population of wild Asian elephants, the active hotspot areas and the movement trends are obtained, the current status of the Habitat of Asian Elephants is grasped, and the corridors between habitats are repaired and protected. These measures provide a decision-making basis for scientifically carrying out the protection and restoration of Asian elephants and their habitats, establishing a monitoring and early warning system for Asian elephant populations, providing technical support for macro-decision-making, implementation of international conventions and international exchanges by the state, Yunnan Province and relevant departments, and is also of great significance for the future scientific protection and management of Asian elephants, the promotion of human-elephant harmony, and the construction of a beautiful China.
Yunnan golden snub-nosed monkey
Yunnan golden snub-nosed monkey, also known as black and white nose monkey, locals call "snow monkey", "green monkey" and "white monkey". It is a rare and endangered primate unique to China, which has been listed as a world and national key protected animal, and the protection level is first.
The Yunnan golden snub-nosed monkey is distributed in southeastern Tibet and local areas of northwestern Yunnan in China, and administratively divided from north to south in Mangkang County of the Tibet Autonomous Region, Deqin County, Weixi Lisu Autonomous County, Yulong Naxi Autonomous County, Lanping Bai Pumi Autonomous County, and Yunlong County in Yunnan Province. It is only distributed in the Yunling Mountains of the Hengduan Mountain System on the southeast edge of the Himalayas, a small area between the Lancang River and the Jinsha River, bounded by the Lancang River in the west and the Jinsha River in the east. In the altitude zone of distribution, the Yunnan golden snub-nosed monkey lives in the forest between 2600 and 4200 meters, so it is the highest distributed non-human primate in the region. Over the years, through unremitting efforts to protect the Yunnan golden snub-nosed monkey, its number has grown from 1,400 to about 3,000.
Gao Ligong white-browed gibbon
Gaoligong white-browed gibbon, also known as The Celestial Gibbon, is a national Class I protected animal and is listed as a global endangered species. It is a small class of great apes, strict monogamous, mainly living in evergreen broad-leaved forests, moving through the canopy by cross-swinging arms, is a typical arboreal primate, its male is black brown, female is pale yellowish brown, the most notable feature is the two eyebrows are white, hence the name.
Gaoligong white-browed gibbon is mainly distributed in Gaoligong Mountain east of the Enmeikai River, which is an endemic species of Gaoligong Mountain, with only more than 100 left in China, fragmented and distributed in Longyang District of Baoshan City, Gaoligong Mountain Nature Reserve and Parts of Monkey Bridge and Dehong Dai Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture Yingjiang County. Baoshan is the most important habitat of the Gaoligong white-browed gibbon in China, with a total of 60 or so in 22 groups.
Because of their dependence on the food provided by the original rainforest, and the fact that their song is easier to monitor, gibbons can serve as early warnings of the deterioration of the forest – the disappearance of gibbons means that the forest is no longer healthy. The forest ecosystem in which gibbons live is the most biodiverse area in China, and protecting gibbons is like opening an umbrella, indirectly protecting other organisms living in the same area. At the same time, gibbons are close relatives of humans in terms of systematic relationships, and the study of gibbon ecology, behavior, social structure, consciousness, etc. helps to understand the secrets of humans themselves.
Two-horned hornbills
The two-horned hornbill belongs to the hornbill family, a national first-class protected animal, with a body length of 90-125 cm, and is a giant in the air. The double-horned hornbill is a rare resident bird in China, mainly distributed in western Yunnan, and currently inhabits low-altitude tropical rainforests in Tongbiguan Nature Reserve. The two-horned hornbill is monogamous, and if the male encounters an accident during the brooding period, the female and young birds will also be doomed, so people regard them as "love birds".
Over the years, our province has taken measures such as improving the management system of protected areas, establishing an online monitoring system for the wisdom of wild animals, hiring bird monitors, strengthening science popularization, and guiding the masses to carry out natural experience services for bird watching, etc., to create an atmosphere of loving birds and protecting birds, the living environment of double-horned hornbills has been effectively protected, and the number of populations has shown a trend of increasing year by year.
Nu River Golden Snub-nosed Monkey
The Nujiang golden snub-nosed monkey belongs to the national Level I protected wild animal, and is the fifth golden snub-nosed monkey discovered in 1998 after the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey of Sichuan, Yunnan, Qian and Vietnam, which is a milestone in the global zoological community and adds a new flagship species to the Gaoligongshan National Nature Reserve. The Nujiang Golden Snub-nosed Monkey has the same nostrils as other nose-raising monkeys, but differs in the color of the coat: it is covered with black hairs, and only the ears, jaws, and perineum have white hairs.
The Nujiang golden snub-nosed monkey is distributed in broad-leaved forests, bamboo forests and mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forests at an altitude of 1700-3300 meters above sea level in Lushui, Gaoligong Mountain, and mainly feeds on plant fruits and young leaves. In winter, they migrate down to live at lower altitudes. In China, the Nujiang golden snub-nosed monkey now only exists in the Gaoligongshan National Nature Reserve of Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture in our province, with an estimated number of about 230 in existence, which is a critically endangered species and is particularly in need of care and protection.
Yunnan network reporter Tang Wei Sun Yuting