In the early 1980s, Chinese scientist Liu Yinzeng led a team to carry out scientific expeditions in southern Shaanxi, after three years and more than 50,000 kilometers of scientific investigation, they found a bird in HanzhongYang County, the world's only 7 birds, and this bird, since 1964 has never appeared in the public eye, at the same time, Japan, across the sea from us, is also nervously carrying out scientific research on this bird, just to achieve artificial breeding, leaving the blood of this bird in Japan.
This bird is the crested ibis, they were once widely distributed in East Asia, the history of northeast China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea and even Russia's Siberia region has its distribution records, but since the Edo period in Japan, due to the excessive number of crested ibises caused agricultural hazards, Japanese farmers applied to the shogunate to drive away the hunting of crested ibises, crested ibises began to gradually disappear, and in 1970, the joint expedition conducted by scientists in China, Japan and the Soviet Union also ended in failure. Humans once thought that the crested ibises had since embarked on the road to extinction.
Crested ibis, also known as the crested ibis, Japanese windhead ibis, etc., is also commonly known in Japan as the peach blossom bird, they are mainly white, but the feathers and the upper and lower feathers have a faint pink, the face is bare and hairless, showing a bright red, the life expectancy is 20-30 years, the longest surviving record is the Japanese in the wild in 1968 captured the crested ibis, which lived until 2003 in captivity, and the life expectancy reached 36 years, and with the death of "Akin", It also means that the crested ibis, a creature, has declared it extinct in the wild in Japan.
Fortunately, Chinese scientists have properly protected the 7 crested ibises found in Yangxian County, Hanzhong, and immediately established the world's only special crested ibis reserve in Yangxian County, 40 years have passed, from the initial 7 crested ibises to the current Chinese crested ibises Wild population size has reached more than 2,000, and the artificial population size has exceeded 1,000. Cooperative models have also been established in Japan and South Korea, respectively, and the two countries have so far bred hundreds of crested ibises.
However, there is still a slight regret, that is, the crested ibis, because of the Latin literary name, there is a high probability that it cannot become the national bird of our country, because if you look up the information, you will find that because it was once all over Japan, and according to the early scientific naming law, the Latin scientific name of the crested ibis is Nipponia nippon, which means the bird that symbolizes Japan, so if it becomes the national bird of China, it seems a little strange, in fact, not only the crested ibis, but another red-crowned crane that has a very high voice but has never been able to become the national bird of China. It is also because the Latin literary name is Grus japonensis, which has a more obvious Japanese meaning, and is also not related to the national bird.
Want to see this Chinese national treasure with the same name as the giant panda and the golden snub-nosed monkey? In fact, there is breeding in the westernmost area of the Beijing Zoo, but because it is not open to the public, it is difficult for ordinary people to have the opportunity to see crested ibises living in Beijing. However, you can still visit this magical bird in the crested ibis nature reserve in Hanzhongyang County, Shaanxi Province, and if it is the breeding period of the crested ibises in April and May every year, there is still a chance to watch through the display window and watch the crested ibises busy nesting in the grass and preparing to have children.
In addition, located in the southern foothills of the Qinling Mountains, Yang County is still the distribution area of the Four Treasures of Qinling Mountains, Yang County is known as the "Pearl of Han, the Hometown of the Crested Ibis", in fact, the "Qinling Four Treasures" giant pandas, crested ibises, golden snub-nosed monkeys, antelopes can be seen in Yangxian County, if you want to see a truly natural and beautiful China, then it will not be wrong to go here~