How did the crested ibis, which was declared extinct by Japan, be bred to 5,000 by Chinese scientists?

The crested ibis has always been regarded as a symbol of "auspiciousness" and is called the "Oriental Jewel". It is not only loved by the people of our country, but also highly praised by Japan next door. The Japanese royal family also Consider the crested ibis a symbol of royalty. However, this bird was once considered extinct by humans in the last century. Only a few crested ibises survived in Japan, but these crested ibises have all lost their ability to reproduce. Therefore, Japan believes that after these individuals die, the crested ibis will become completely extinct. But Chinese scientists do not believe in evil. In order to find crested ibises in our country, Chinese scientists drove to search all places where crested ibises might appear. Finally, they found 7 crested ibises in a rural area in Shaanxi, including 4 adults and 3 chicks. How was the crested ibis rescued?

In the 1980s, bird scientists had not seen individual crested ibises for nearly 20 years. In order to find traces of the Crested Ibis, ornithologists from the Institute of Zoology of my country formed an expedition team, which spanned 9 provinces and municipalities and traveled more than 50,000 kilometers. They were finally discovered in a mountain forest in Yaojiagou, Shaanxi Province. Got 7 crested ibises. The study found that these seven crested ibises were two couples raising three children. Scientists are excited about this discovery, which not only shows that there are still surviving individuals of crested ibises in the wild, but also that they are capable of reproducing.

However, just as scientists were excited about the discovery of crested ibis hatchlings, a tragic scene occurred. One of the baby birds fell from the nest. It turns out that if there are two or more individuals in a nest, the larger one will find a way to monopolize the parent's food, and may even push the smaller one out of the nest. Fortunately, there were anti-fall nets set up by the staff nearby. When the chick fell into the net, the staff found it in time and quickly transported it to the Beijing Zoo for artificial rearing.

The crested ibis has many natural enemies in the wild. Some large raptors such as eagles and eagles are their individuals. Snakes and cats are also among the individuals that threaten the safety of the chicks.

In order to protect the safety of the crested ibis nest, ornithologists put plastic sheets on the trees around the crested ibis nest. This is because the plastic sheet is slippery, making it impossible for snakes and cats to climb the trees. .

In order to ensure that they have enough food, ornithologists will regularly put their food in the surrounding ponds. It will also popularize the importance of the crested ibis to surrounding farmers and improve people's awareness and protection of the crested ibis.

There are also some scholars who directly settled their homes around here and lived there for decades. However, the number of crested ibises has never increased significantly. In order to increase the number of crested ibises, scientists have chosen two methods: in-situ protection and artificial breeding.

With the efforts of scientists, the number of crested ibises began to rise linearly, from 7 to hundreds or even thousands. This year, more than 5,000 individual crested ibises have been planted in wild populations and artificially bred in my country, of which 4,400 are in my country. The crested ibis has also been downgraded from a critically endangered species to an endangered species. The rewilding of crested ibis

The rescue of wild animals must not only save their individual numbers, but also restore their abilities in the wild. Although the number of crested ibises has increased, most crested ibises were bred and raised in artificial bases. In order to restore their ability to survive in the wild, scientists conducted local wild release training.

Many people think that animals are wild by nature, and once they are out of artificial environments, they will quickly adapt to nature. Not really.

First of all, most crested ibises are the offspring of artificial breeding. They live in a relatively safe environment. They have almost never encountered large raptors and snakes, and their ability to avoid natural enemies is weak.

Secondly, crested ibises have very high environmental requirements for their habitats. They like to live in places where fertilization and pesticides are not applied, and such habitats are very rare.

The main food of Crested Ibis is small fish and loaches. These foods are not abundant in the wild, which tests their ability to survive in the wild.

In order to take care of the crested ibis, local staff will install a positioning system on the crested ibis. However, in the past, the positioning system was relatively backward. Sometimes the signal could not be transmitted to the base. At this time, the staff would go to the wild and communicate with local farmers. In order to find traces of the Crested Ibis, we have made inquiries and popularized science about the appearance of the Crested Ibis.

In addition to the local wild release in Shaanxi, the staff also released a group of crested ibises in Xinyang, Henan, my country. This is because Xinyang was also the habitat of crested ibises, and the density of crested ibises in Shaanxi is relatively high. , once a local epidemic disease occurs, it is likely to lead to the annihilation of the crested ibis that people have worked so hard to cultivate.

In order to improve the survival probability of the species, people also released 34 crested ibises in Xinyang, and these crested ibises also successfully survived and multiplied in the wild. However, behind all this is the hard work of the staff.

For example: Among the 34 crested ibises, a pair of crested ibises laid two eggs, but during the incubation period, it happened to be the Qingming Festival. A local fire accidentally broke out during the burning ceremony for ancestors. The fire occurred at The crested ibis nest is 200 meters away. Fortunately, the staff discovered and extinguished the fire in time. To ensure safety, the staff opened a path for the villagers to take a detour.

Also, there are many snakes in Xinyang, and these snakes also threaten the crested ibis chicks. During the hatching period of the crested ibis, the staff not only sprinkled realgar powder under the tree, wrapped it with plastic paper, but also started to drive away the snakes.

However, strangely enough, the crested ibis chick was still bitten to death by a snake. In order to allow the crested ibis to continue training in the wild, the staff promptly replaced a chick within half an hour. It turns out that as long as the chick is replaced within 24 hours after its death, the crested ibis may still treat the replaced chick as its own child.

In this way, with the protection of the staff and the efforts of the chicks, the batch of crested ibises released in Xinyang successfully bred the second generation in the wild, which also marked the success of the rewilding of Xinyang crested ibises. Summary

Although the crested ibis has not yet emerged from the endangered crisis, with the efforts of the staff, the living environment and population size of the crested ibis have improved. It is believed that they will escape the crisis of extinction one day in the future.