In the Wuhan Institute of Hydrobiology, there lives the only artificially raised white-tip dolphin in the world. In January 1980, it was seriously injured when it was caught by fishermen in Dongting Lake. After more than four months of careful treatment , was placed in an aquarium specially built for it, and people named it "Qiqi". For more than 20 years, Qiqi has been living a single life. In 1986, a female white-tip dolphin was captured and named "Zhenzhen" , lived with Qiqi for more than two years. As the wedding day was approaching, Zhenzhen contracted pneumonia and died. Now, Qiqi is approaching old age, and the hope of breeding white-tip dolphins in artificial breeding is getting slimmer.
At the end of 1999, Xinhua News Agency broadcast a message that a 10-year-old child in Guizhou, after learning about the critical situation of the baiji dolphin and the difficulty in carrying out conservation work due to lack of funds, saved 10 yuan from his pocket money every month. In the name of "Aiqi", she has been sending letters to the Wuhan Baiji Conservation Foundation for more than two years. Aiqi wrote in a letter: "If we don't step up the rescue work, our next generation may only learn from books." Above, I know the Yangtze River Baiji Dolphin from the stories we told... I am determined to do my little bit to protect them. I think that as long as everyone in the whole society does a little bit, the Baiji Dolphin will definitely have a living space like the giant panda. ". Aiqi's touching action attracted many people's attention to the baiji dolphin.
The baiji dolphin is a rare animal unique to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China. Its brain is as developed as that of an orangutan, and it is extremely spiritual. Tens of millions of years ago, the white-tip dolphins entered the Yangtze River from the ocean, settled down, and thrived. They were one of the earliest "aboriginals" in this river. There are records about the white-tip dolphins in the ancient book "Erya" of the Han Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago. .Qing Dynasty writer Pu Songling, in "Bai Qiu Lian" from "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio", tells the story of Mu Sheng falling in love with the beautiful, smart and kind-hearted girl Bai. The girl's mother Bai La is the incarnation of the white-tailed dolphin.
Only 30 years ago, there were more than 1,000 baiji dolphins in the Yangtze River. Due to severe pollution of the river, busy shipping (propeller strikes) and indiscriminate fishing, the population of baiji dolphins has declined sharply. In 1986, there were about 300 baiji dolphins. , is listed as one of the "12 most endangered animals in the world" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. When entering the year 2000, it is estimated that there are only about twenty or thirty remaining white-tip dolphins. This lovely creature is counting down to us. To say a final farewell. Experts desperately call it a "living extinct animal".
The white-tip dolphin, like the giant panda and metasequoia, is known as a "living fossil" and is a "relict creature". Relict dolphin In the ancient times of geological history, living things flourished, had many kinds, and were widely distributed. However, in newer times or modern times, they have greatly declined, leaving only one or two species living alone in individual areas, and some even have The trend of gradual extinction.
Animals such as giant pandas, white-tip dolphins, alligators, Chinese sturgeons, and white sturgeons, as well as plants such as metasequoia, silver fir, ginkgo, fragrant fruit trees, and tree ferns are all the only remaining species in the world in our country. Famous relic organisms, they escaped a near-death geological disaster under the protection of the Yangtze River. The Yangtze River basin has become a rare refuge for relic organisms in the world due to its superior natural geographical environment. Now, the Yangtze River is increasingly losing this quality The fate of the white-tip dolphin is the epitome of the biodiversity crisis in the Yangtze River Basin caused by the deterioration of the ecological environment.
When I climbed to the Yellow Crane Tower on the Yangtze River in Wuhan, a poem by Cui Hao from the Tang Dynasty came to mind: "In the past, people have ridden on the Yellow Crane. Go, the Yellow Crane Tower is vacant here. Once the Yellow Crane is gone, it will never return, and the white clouds will remain empty for thousands of years." We can't help but wonder, is it destined to be written by our own hands in the great book of the Yangtze River: "The last white-tip dolphin on earth, "Has died alone in the Yangtze River"?
To carry out artificial breeding of white-tip dolphins, at least 20 dolphins need to be captured. In 1992, investment was invested in the construction of Honghu Xinluo and Shishou Tianezhou. The Baiji Dolphin Nature Reserve is still empty.
After a species becomes extinct, it irreversibly disappears from the earth's life sequence forever, and its unique gene pool no longer exists. Europe and The United States currently does a good job in environmental protection, but in the past during the process of industrialization, many wild animals were basically extinct, so the two continents also lost biological diversity. And any loss of biological diversity will No matter how much money is spent and how advanced technology is used, it cannot be restored or made up for.
Today, Aiqi and many people are still making last-ditch efforts to save the baiji dolphin, although no one can Although no one dares to hope that this kind of effort can save the Baiji dolphin from extinction, if we turn a blind eye to the extinction of the creatures around us, disaster will befall mankind. The time is not far off.
The Yangtze River that cannot accommodate the survival of the baiji dolphin will eventually be unable to accommodate the survival of humans. Protecting the Yangtze River and protecting rare animals like the baiji dolphin is to protect human beings themselves. .