When it comes to the most common bird, sparrows must be on the list, whether in the city or in the countryside, you can see their figures, and according to the data, the number of wild sparrows in the mainland, even as many as 1 billion or more, then, since there are so many sparrows in the mainland, why do some people say that they are almost extinct on the mainland?
60 years ago, China's native sparrows almost went extinct, is it true?
This needs to start in the 1950s. After the founding of New China, while gradually and orderly development in all walks of life, it was first necessary to let everyone have enough to eat, so the agricultural production movement throughout the country also took shape.
We all know that many animals will steal crops, which is harmful to agricultural production, so in 1955, when a large number of people constantly reflected that because there were too many sparrows, resulting in large-scale scourges of hard-working crops, a vigorous "campaign to eliminate the four pests" also began.
The "four pests" here are mainly tigers, flies, mosquitoes and sparrows, because they are activities called for by official organizations, and sparrows do steal crops, so people have also begun to carry out large-scale culling operations on sparrows, and even some provinces have competed with each other to be the first to achieve the achievement of no sparrows in the territory.
Taking the mainland Shaanxi as an example, at that time, it had set a goal to eliminate all the sparrows in Shaanxi before the end of 1956, so that there would be no more sparrows in Shaanxi.
Such a large-scale encirclement, the number of natural sparrows also decreased sharply, until 1958, the mainland native sparrows have not much left, it can be said that the Chinese sparrows at that time, has reached the point of extinction, according to the data, only in 1958, the country killed 210 million sparrows, and people's enthusiasm for killing sparrows has always been high, seeing fewer and fewer sparrows, but also many ornithologists are worried.
Soon came 1960, when a large number of ornithologists said that it was foolish to kill sparrows, because the main food source of sparrows was a variety of pests, and because sparrows were about to disappear on the mainland, which also led to the disappearance of sparrows, the yield of crops not only did not increase, but also fell to the lowest value since the founding of New China.
As a result, the sparrow finally "settled the injustice" and no longer became the target of people's culling, but at this time, the sparrows in the mainland were already endangered, so in order to restore the sparrow population in the mainland, millions of sparrows could only be purchased from the former Soviet Union and released into the wild.
Fortunately, the sparrow is a very tenacious animal, and the reproductive ability is also very strong, so after 60 years of breeding, the current number of sparrows on the mainland will reach more than 1 billion.
So, since there are so many sparrows in the wild, why can't you see the bodies of the sparrows?
It can be said that outdoors, we can often see a large group of sparrows foraging on the ground, and then when someone approaches, they are very alert to fly in flocks, but although there are so many sparrows, the remains of sparrows are very rare, so is it because the sparrows are very long-lived?
The answer, of course, is no, in the wild, the average lifespan of sparrows is about 5-10 years, but this is a very optimistic situation, because although sparrows are very common, they have many natural enemies in nature, which leads to most sparrows, in fact, only about 1-3 years of lifespan.
It can be said that basically carnivores, or many omnivorous animals, are natural enemies of sparrows, and even stray cats in cities are also the main natural enemies of sparrows, which means that in cities, sparrows are not seen because they are generally "abnormal deaths" and are hunted and eaten.
In the wild mountain forest, because the sparrow is scattered in a large area, naturally, it is not easy for people to see the remains of the sparrow after death, and we all know that there are many animals in nature that like to eat carrion, so after the sparrow dies, it will soon be picked up and eaten by these scavengers.
So, are there no longer any risk of extinction among the sparrows in the mainland today?
Judging from the research results, although the number of sparrows in the mainland is not large, it has also shown a gradual downward trend in recent years, which is not directly caused by human beings, but indirectly caused by human activities.
Pollution in the city, fragmentation of mountain forest habitat, etc., these will lead to the decline in the population of many animals, including sparrows, so, although sparrows are in the mainland territory, there is no risk of extinction at present, but sparrows are still protected animals in the mainland, especially wild sparrows, if someone maliciously culling, once found, will also be punished by law, here, also remind everyone not to attack the sparrow.