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Home in China (4) 丨 Who is the hero behind the "demotion" of national treasures?

Look at the news Knows reporter Peng Ye Leng Wei Ma Yue You Mingling

2021-10-28 14:41

Giant pandas are unique rare animals in China and the flagship species of the world's biodiversity conservation, and are loved by people all over the world. In 40 years, The number of giant pandas in the wild in China has increased from 1114 to 1864, in July this year, China officially announced the level of threat of giant pandas in the wild, from "endangered" to "vulnerable", giant pandas are downgraded, witnessing the continuous improvement of the national ecological environment, and China's biodiversity conservation achievements are remarkable.

With the release of China's first artificially bred giant panda Taotao, systematically trained in the wild, into nature in 2012, China's captive giant pandas took the first step towards the wild. Up to now, the China Giant Panda Conservation and Research Center has rewired 11 giant pandas in liziping and other national nature reserves, of which 9 have survived smoothly.

Home in China (4) 丨 Who is the hero behind the "demotion" of national treasures?

On December 27, 2018, the giant pandas "Qinxin" and "Little Walnut" who had undergone rewilding training were successfully released in Dujiangyan Longxi-Hongkou National Nature Reserve

On December 27, 2018, the China Giant Panda Conservation and Research Center successfully released the giant pandas "Qinxin" and "Little Walnut" after rewilding training, at an altitude of about 1,800 meters, and the Longxi-Hongkou National Nature Reserve, which was covered with ice and snow. For more than two years, the staff of Longchi Station of Dujiangyan Pipe and Conservation Station of Giant Panda National Park has continued to track two giant pandas released into the wild. According to Zhu Dahai, director of the Longchi Pipe Protection Station of the Dujiangyan Pipe and Protection Station of the Giant Panda National Park, these two pandas were released, one was carried out in Liangzi at the junction of Dujiangyan City and Wenchuan County, and few giant pandas visited the area before, but it belonged to the habitat range, and the local ecological good bamboo grew luxuriantly. Another giant panda came to Huangnigang in longxi Hongkou Conservation Area to settle down in the area of Luo pond, and according to the whereabouts, the two giant pandas successfully established their own territories in the above two areas.

Home in China (4) 丨 Who is the hero behind the "demotion" of national treasures?

The team members of the Longchi Pipe And Protection Station of the Giant Panda National Park are patrolling the mountains and forests

Carry an infrared camera, GPS, plenty of water and dry food. The 9 team members of the Longchi Management and Protection Station have to rotate and patrol the mountains every day, hiking for 4 to 10 hours each time, to the depths of the mountains with dense vegetation, inaccessible people, and basically no mobile phone signals, to check the hidden dangers of mountain fires, prevent poaching and logging, and guard the survival home of giant pandas.

As one of the 67 giant panda reserves in China, Longxi Hongkou National Nature Reserve is an important habitat for the giant panda population of the Minshan Mountain System. It links the two largest wild panda populations in the Minshan to Qionglai mountains. During the patrol, you can often find the footprints of various animals and the traces of giant pandas. In a bamboo forest at an altitude of about 2,000 meters, several pieces of yellowish, spindle-shaped animal feces come into view. According to the staff, this is the bamboo fiber excreted by the giant panda after eating the bamboo pole. It shows that there was a giant panda activity here. With the help of monitoring software, two stewards recorded and uploaded the location of the panda feces found, as well as speculating on the time.

Home in China (4) 丨 Who is the hero behind the "demotion" of national treasures?

Giant panda feces

Along the route, a number of infrared cameras have been deployed, and the trajectory of giant pandas has been traced in different locations many times. Three recent auto-capture photos were taken on October 19 this year, when a wild giant panda, alone in search of territory, broke into a site above 2,000 meters above sea level in Longchi. Initially, the staff thought it was a heart or a small walnut that had been released into the wild, but later, by comparing it with the height of nearby plants, it was speculated that it was a new sub-adult giant panda in the area, which was only between two and three years old.

Home in China (4) 丨 Who is the hero behind the "demotion" of national treasures?

On October 19, another wild sub-adult giant panda was found in the Longchi area

On each patrol, the team members checked the power of the infrared camera and changed the card. Zhu Dahai told reporters that he has worked in the Longxi Hongkou Nature Reserve for 20 years and has never seen a giant panda in the wild. In recent years, with the increase in the number of infrared camera placements, giant pandas have also appeared in front of the camera from time to time to be taken precious videos and photos. Whenever the infrared camera is changed and these images are found, it is also the happiest moment for the staff of the station. According to the third national giant panda survey, there are only 6 to 8 giant pandas in the Longchi area, and now the number of giant pandas in the area has increased to about 10. From 2020 onwards, the Dujiangyan Pipe Protection Station of the Giant Panda National Park has also cooperated with the Nature Conservancy to carry out the construction of artificial caves for giant pandas to spawn in the wild, and 6 artificial caves have been built so far to provide shelter for the survival and reproduction of giant pandas and wild animals in the same region. Despite being located in the alpine mountains, often encountering heavy rain or heavy snow in winter, this group of stewards with an average age of 50 years old still adhere to their mission, working and living in an environment lacking electricity supply.

Home in China (4) 丨 Who is the hero behind the "demotion" of national treasures?

The self-built photovoltaic station of Longchi Pipe Protection Station can basically ensure the power supply at night

It is understood that since the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, due to repeated geological disasters, there is no power equipment in the reserve. In order to protect the basic life, collect and upload data. The Longchi Pipe Protection Station of the Dujiangyan Pipe Protection Station of the Giant Panda National Park has built a small photovoltaic generator. Look at the news Knows reporter saw that during the day, the entire protection station was in a state of power off, and the staff who had just returned to the management station after the patrol leaned against the window and filled in the patrol report with the help of natural light. The stored electricity is saved for night lighting.

At present, the average age of the management and protection personnel of the Longchi Pipe and Protection Station is nearly 50 years old, and the station manager Zhu Dahai said that due to the difficult conditions, most young people are reluctant to do such work as nature reserve management. However, with the establishment of the Giant Panda National Park in recent years, with sufficient funds and resources to guarantee, the current situation of "recruiting people and not staying" in management and protection posts may be completely changed.

Since the inauguration of the Giant Panda National Park Administration in Chengdu in October 2018, last year, Sichuan began to pilot the construction of the Nature Education Pilot Pilot Zone in the Giant Panda National Park, with more than 8,000 kinds of accompanying animals and plants, following the giant panda to get more targeted protection. Since the pilot, Sichuan Province has straightened out the management system, demarcated the boundaries of the park, completed the restoration of 68 square kilometers of corridor vegetation, and connected the fragmented habitat into pieces; in accordance with the idea of "settlement at the point, online tourism, and surface protection", it has guided the formation of a pattern of "people retreating into the cat". Relying on the high-quality air and cool natural environment, on the outskirts of the Longxi Hongkou Nature Reserve, Nanyue Community, Longchi Town, Dujiangyan City, many new farmhouses have been built in the past two years, attracting many tourists this summer.

In October 2021, China officially established the first five national parks. Among them, the protected area of giant panda national park reaches 22,000 square kilometers, spanning Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, and is a concentrated distribution area and main breeding habitat for wild giant pandas, protecting more than 70% of wild giant pandas in the country. The Giant Panda National Park connects 69 nature reserves across the country, and in the future, 13 relatively independent local populations of giant pandas will be clustered into pieces. At present, Sichuan Province has been studying the "transition period" management method of the Giant Panda National Park, and the specific rules will be issued in the near future. According to the approval of the State Council, after the establishment of the Giant Panda National Park, the same area will no longer retain other nature reserves, and the relevant control requirements that are not included in the national park area will be clarified through the integration and optimization of natural protected areas.

(Look at the news Knows reporter: Peng Ye, Leng Wei, Ma Yue, You Mingling)

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