Yangtze finless porpoise frolicking in the old way of Swan Island .
All-media reporters of Hubei Daily Huang Zhongchao Liu Shusen Correspondents Zhao Hui Hu Hongxia
The speedboat was galloping, the breeze was gentle and the waves were sparkling. From time to time, finless porpoises jumped out of the water in front of them, and then quickly got into the water.
This is the old road of Shishou Yangtze River Swan Island, Hubei Yangtze River Swan Island Baiji Dolphin National Nature Reserve. There are nearly a hundred finless porpoises in the waters of the old road of Swan Island in the Yangtze River. These black-gray finless porpoises are cute and naive, and they are really cute. They are national first-class protected animals and have the reputation of "water giant pandas".
At the end of July, on the day of the Great Heat, Hubei Daily all-media reporters came to the reserve, walked into the Damei Wetland, pursued these lovely water spirits, and listened to the beautiful stories of people protecting finless porpoises. The only successful example of ex situ conservation of small cetaceans in the world. In 1992, Hubei Yangtze River Swan Island Baiji Dolphin National Nature Reserve was established. The demarcation range includes the 89-kilometer Shishou section of the Yangtze River and the 21-kilometer old Yangtze River Road in Swan Island. Originally to protect the baiji dolphin, it is regrettable that no trace of the baiji dolphin has been found, and the protection of the finless porpoise has become the central task. Hu Lianghui, director of the
reserve, told reporters that the reserve has four responsibilities: in situ protection of the Yangtze finless porpoise, ex situ protection, artificial breeding and gene exchange of finless porpoises.
In situ protection is mainly to increase observation and monitoring. At present, the frequency of human and mechanical activities on the Yangtze River is getting higher and higher. How to make the finless porpoise less disturbed is mainly carried out by the fishery department to carry out monitoring and inspection work.
"In 1990, we caught five finless porpoises from the Yangtze River, three females and two males, and put them into the old Yangtze River in Swan Island. After 30 years of natural breeding, the 2021 census found that the number of finless porpoises reached 101, and 6-8 small finless porpoises are born every year. , the annual growth rate is 10%. At present, the carrying capacity of the old finless porpoise has reached saturation.” Hu Lianghui said that the old Yangtze River is very suitable for the survival of finless porpoises, and it has become the only successful example of ex situ conservation of small cetaceans in the world. At present, the old Yangtze River Road in Swan Island has become an important base for national cetacean research.
artificial breeding made a breakthrough. 2008 ice disaster , the old Yangtze River, which has never been frozen, was covered by ice , some finless porpoises were scratched by the ice, and several died. The reserve mobilized cadres and workers to break the ice and pick up the injured finless porpoise and put it into the cage. The staff treated the injured finless porpoise with medicine and conducted a cage culture experiment at the same time. In the end, not only the cage culture was successful, but also two small finless porpoises were bred. The finless porpoise cage culture and artificial breeding technology of finless porpoise have won two national patents. Gene exchange of
finless porpoise was strengthened. Since 2015, the Swan Island Reserve has successively exported 24 finless porpoises to the Xinluo section of the Yangtze River in Hubei, Hewangmiao in Jianli in Hubei, Tongling in Anhui and other suitable habitats and other suitable habitats, of which 18 will be exported at one time in April 2021. At the same time, 8 animals were introduced from Poyang Lake in Jiangxi Province to exchange genes and rejuvenate the population.
The family of finless porpoises has grown into a family of four generations.
Hubei Yangtze River Swan Island Baiji Dolphin National Nature Reserve is the same color as the sky.
4 pm is the third feeding time of the finless porpoise in the breeding base. Ding Zeliang, the breeder, came to the cage on time to feed the bait fish. Hearing the familiar call, the father and son of the finless porpoise "Tian Tian" and "Mengmeng" jumped out of the water one after another and swallowed the small fish in Ding Zeliang's hand.
In summer, the temperature is high, and the food intake of finless porpoises decreases. Each feeding is limited to about 1 kg per finless porpoise. Before feeding, Ding Zeliang injected the small fish with sodium chloride . There are also vitamin C, vitamin B, vitamin B1 and Huoxiangzhengqi water in the medicine shady cabinet in the workshop, all of which are prepared for the two breeding finless porpoises.
Speaking of finless porpoise breeding, Ding Zeliang recalled to the reporter the ice disaster in 2008. The ice-breaking and dolphin rescue operation lasted for a month, and Ding Zeliang participated in the whole process. The two severely injured finless porpoises "Tiantian" and "E'e" were put into cages for treatment and rearing. On May 22, 2016, "E'e" successfully gave birth to a female finless porpoise "Beibei", which became the first case of artificial breeding of finless porpoises in China and the world; on June 10, 2020, "E'e" bred a male finless porpoise again" cute".
In July 2020, the 4-year-old "Babe" has been released to the old way of Swan Island. Ding Zeliang said that Beibei had been trained in the wild before being released and learned to hunt live fish.
also spread the story of the finless porpoise "A Bao" in the breeding base. After being raised in the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences for 7 years, it was released to the old road of the Yangtze River. It was captured twice in 2021, and it was found that it was 28 or 9 years old and had a fourth-generation great-grandson. It is the oldest in the ex situ conservation base. Finless porpoise. The reserve has marked each finless porpoise and implanted a small chip, so as to know the situation of each finless porpoise like the back of the hand.
fishermen turned into finless porpoise protectors
Wang Yongfu and Sun Haiwen, two sturdy men, both fishermen born in 1981, were employed in the reserve after the fishing ban on the Yangtze River and became members of the land patrol. They wear the armbands of "Yangtze River Finless Dolphin Patrol" and "Yangtze River Patrol" every day to stop illegal fishing, illegal reclamation, grazing on the beach and observe finless porpoises. Because
are familiar with the old ways and have been fishermen, their patrols are more targeted. Patrols twice a day, in the morning, in the evening, or in the early morning, leave fishing and anglers unpredictable. If they patrol at night and find that there are cars and reeds nesting on the shore, they will turn off the lights from a distance, walk forward quietly, and hand over the violators to the protected area and the public security for handling.
There are 6 land patrol officers and 3 boat patrol officers in the Swan Island old road area of the reserve, of which 6 land patrol officers are all fishermen before. Both land patrols and ship patrols have patrol records.
Hu Lianghui said that 38 probes have been installed in the Swan Island Old Road Area to achieve full monitoring coverage, and patrols include vehicles, boats and drones.
The finless porpoise's food is small fish. With the implementation of the comprehensive ban on fishing, the fish in the old road and the main waters of the Yangtze River tend to be large, and the big fish eat the small fish, causing some problems with the food source of the finless porpoise. At present, the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Huazhong Agricultural University, and the Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fisheries are organizing demonstrations to propose suggestions on the adjustment of fishery resources.
Regarding the future of the protected area, Hu Lianghui said that efforts will be made to promote the construction of three bases, the world's small cetacean ex situ conservation demonstration base, China's freshwater dolphin nature conservation education base, and the Yangtze finless porpoise ex situ population germplasm resource export base, to achieve a The ultimate goal: let the finless porpoise return to the Yangtze River and nature.
(all pictures are courtesy of the Swanzhou Baiji Dolphin National Nature Reserve in Hubei Yangtze River)
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