What can you think of when it comes to animals that can represent a country? Our national treasure giant panda? kangaroo in Australia? Or is it the Indian Shenniu ?
There is such a bird that is not only the earliest bird in the world to be on the national emblem, but also has gone to all parts of the world with the footsteps of the "No. 1 Powerful Country". Now, as long as it appears, people will regard it as a symbol of the United States.
This is the national bird of the United States: Bald-headed sea eagle .
has become the representative of the American image of the bald sea eagle
became a national bird two hundred years ago and almost extinct decades ago
Bald sea eagle is a kind of bird of prey born and raised in the Americas. It basically lives in North America, and is also distributed in northern Mexico.
This big bird has a very majestic appearance, a majestic body, fierce and sharp eyes, a sharp beak like a golden hook, and a sharp claw with extremely lethality. It is enough for people to imagine all the "Sky Overlord".
The bald-headed sea eagle is hunting
As early as the " Declaration of Independence " released in 1776, people believed that the new United States must have a special national emblem. In 1782, the US Congress decided to enthrone the bald eagle as the national bird of the United States and place it in the center of the national emblem.
The bald sea eagle located at the top of the food chain can go to heaven and earth, dare to challenge other predators, treating prey with extremely fierce life span, and its life span of more than 20 years is rare among wild animals. In the hearts of Americans, it represents strength, courage, freedom and immortality.
Many official logos in the United States are bald-headed sea eagle as the main body
However, the bald-headed sea eagle, who is a national bird, did not receive the attention of matching identity in the early days, but almost became extinct in the United States. When
was listed as a national bird, there were about 100,000 bald-headed sea eagles in the United States. However, with the land development and other human activities after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the habitat of national birds has rapidly shrunk. Because domestic hunting attracts hunting, the number of bald-headed sea eagles began to drop sharply.
In 1940, the United States promulgated the "Protection of Bald Eagles Act". After a series of protections, the number of national birds has rebounded slightly.
Many versions of the US dollar coins are covered with white-headed eagles
, but the bad luck of the white-headed eagles has not ended, but it is the most dangerous after the end of World War II .
In the 1940s, European scientists synthesized a chemical substance called "DDTh". Later, they found that this substance had a particularly good insecticidal effect, was very low in toxicity, and could even be sprayed directly on the human body. It was safer than many pesticides at that time and could also reduce the harm of diseases such as malaria , which were transmitted by mosquitoes. Therefore, DDT was used in large quantities for a long time.
It was not until the 1960s that people discovered that DDT was very difficult to decompose in the natural environment. It took more than ten years to completely metabolize after entering the animal body. Even the DDT component was detected in the blood of Antarctic penguins.
00s domestic DDT pesticide, the Chinese name "DDT"
Because it is the top of the food chain, the bald sea eagle has accumulated a large amount of DDT components in their bodies, which seriously affects the calcium metabolism in their bodies, and directly causes the eggs they lay to become very fragile, causing the number of newborns of bald sea eagle to drop significantly.
and the reasons are added together, and the result is that the bald sea eagle in the late 20th century almost became functionally extinct in the United States.
was evaluated as "lazy and timid", and his status was almost replaced by turkey
1784, American War of Independence officially ended, Benjamin Franklin , one of the founding fathers, once strongly opposed the bald eagle becoming the national emblem of the United States in a letter to his daughter, and even felt that turkey was more suitable to represent the United States.
Franklin evaluates bald eagles as "very lazy and timid" animals, which has a lot to do with their habits.
Adult male bald eagle, robbing 4-year-old females, similar
Bald eagle has a lot of food, but most of the time their prey is still mainly fish, and their habitat will be chosen near coasts, rivers, and large lakes. If you build a nest near the water source, the bald eagle will basically not migrate if there is enough food.
The temperature in North America in winter is very low, and most of the fish are gathered in warm deep waters, which makes it difficult for bald eagles to hunt food. At this time, their targets will turn to various small animals, as well as animal corpses or carrion.
In order to get food, the bald eagle will also compete with many animals. Bald-headed sea eagles with their wings that can reach two meters can often choose animals smaller than themselves as the "robbery targets", such as fox , coyote , and other seagull , crows and other predators, either robbed by it or directly became its food.
robbed the prey of the little fox and almost fell to death the "victimized fox"
However, compared to robbery, the bald sea eagle obviously prefers to "picking up bargains". With their excellent vision, they can find gatherings and hovering groups of eagles dozens of kilometers away. Once the target is determined, the bald sea eagle will fly over quietly and steal the prey caught by other eagles.
not only has the behavior of "bullying the weak and afraid of the strong" to grab food, but also likes to "sneer and cheat". In the eyes of the founding father Franklin, it is the "evidence" that the bald eagle is not as good as a turkey.
Not to mention anything else, the bald-headed sea eagle does look handsome
In nature, the prey of the weak is an iron rule. As the top predator at the top of the food chain, the bald-headed sea eagle interprets this law vividly.
First of all, their courtship behavior is more cruel than most animals.
Among the bald sea eagles, the female is about one-third larger than the male, and her combat effectiveness is stronger than that of the male. Therefore, if a male wants to successfully "propose" the marriage, he must show sufficient strength.
The bald eagle's courtship method: fight
Whenever you find the object you like, the bald eagle will first call the other party loudly, and then chase and fly together. The other party's response was to show the sharp claws. The two eagles would tangle together in the air, grabbing each other's claws and fall down together, and would separate before reaching the ground.
For female bald sea eagle, only male eagle who is evenly matched with them is qualified to become a husband.
Like many large predators, the birth rate of bald sea eagles is also very low. A bird couple can only lay 1-3 eggs a year. After about three months of raising, there will usually only be one chick who can successfully leave the nest.
When adult bald eagle feeds, they will only tend to be stronger children
The "successful choice" of bald eagle starts from the time of breaking the shell. If there is not enough food, the chicks will start to kill each other, and the strong chicks will use all their strength to attack their brothers and sisters to ensure that they can eat enough.
Adult bald sea eagle will not stop such behavior, but will give priority to feeding food to stronger chicks. If prey is not enough, the winner will usually eat the sibling's bodies after the thin chicks die. Two hundred years after becoming a national bird, the corpse was managed by the state
15th century Columbus discovered the American continent, which also brought disaster to the indigenous peoples of the Americas. After experiencing disasters such as colonization, massacre, and infectious diseases, the Native American culture represented by Mayan , Aztec , and Inca civilization were almost almost cut off.
The map of the American continent drawn during the Columbus period can be seen incomplete
The bald eagles lived in the American continent for more than 20 million years. Before becoming the national birds of the United States, they still had an extraordinary status in American civilization.
In some native North American cultures, bald eagles are messengers who convey information between gods and people. They are also the top raptors among birds, and their feathers, claws and bones have very important and sacred uses.
Indian clothing that will only be worn on sacrificial occasions
Eagle Feather Crown is a symbol of Indian culture. The long feathers on it are the tail feathers of birds of prey such as eagles and carvings. Only powerful indigenous warriors are qualified to wear the eagle feather crown.In ancient times, it was difficult for people to hunt birds of prey. Later, the technological level developed, and the number of birds of prey became smaller. Therefore, birds of prey have always been very rare in Indian culture and are an indispensable part of tribal civilization.
As mentioned in the previous article, the United States promulgated the "Protection of Bald-headed Sea Eagles Act" in 1940. After long-term improvement, it has become the current "Protection of Bald-headed Sea Eagles and Golden Eagles", prohibiting individuals from privately owning Bald-headed Sea Eagles and Golden Eagles.
US National Eagle Resource Library, belongs to the US Fish and Wildlife Service
In order to protect rare birds such as bald sea eagles and golden eagles, and to respect the indigenous culture, in 1970, the United States established the "National Eagle Library" in Idahua , and stored and distributed the corpses of bald sea eagles and golden eagles according to the provisions of the " Eagle Feather Law ".
This magical institution. The main responsibility is to accept the bodies of bald sea eagles and golden eagles from all over the country, as well as any body parts including their feathers. The source can be qualified institutions such as animal protection agencies, zoos, or corpses found in the wild.
After receiving the corpse, the National Eagle Library will conduct corresponding testing, evaluation, and sorting, and then store it in the library.
The process of handling a bald eagle's corpse
According to the current provisions of the Eagle Feather Act, Native Americans who have been legally registered and approved by the federal government can submit an application to the National Eagle Library as long as they are over 18 years old and report how many eagles they need to use. After being reviewed by the National Eagle Library, they can distribute the required bald eagle or golden eagle in the order of application.
In addition to Native Americans, there is another group of people in the "Eagle Feather Law" that can apply for Eagle Feather, that is, the famous 101st Airborne Division member in the United States.
101 The current armband of the airborne division is the avatar of the bald sea eagle
According to regulations, whether they serve in this army in the past, current members, or reserve members who can only join later, they can have an eagle feather that commends their service. Except for these two groups of people, it is illegal for anyone to own the feathers of a bald sea eagle and a golden eagle.
The number of bald sea eagles on the American continent has basically returned to the level when they were selected as national birds, and the protection level has also been adjusted from endangered to near-risk, which is one of the successful cases of modern animal protection.
Finally, we can enjoy the handsome Chinese bird's "uncle walks" walking posture.
"Of course the national bird should be a little bit arrogant when walking!"
Reference materials:
[1]. Wiki Encyclopedia Bald-headed Sea Eagle Entry
[2]. Wiki Encyclopedia Eagle Feather Law Entry
[3]. The official website of the National Eagle Library of the United States
[4]. YouTube video "Feather Bird"
[5]. Columbus discovered the disaster brought to the natives of the Americas
