In 2020, an old man in Yuncheng, Shanxi raised more than 40 strange birds at home. After looking at them, experts from the province said: This is the ancient sacred bird Phoenix.
1. The strange red bird
The story begins in the winter of 2016. Guo Cunsuo, who lives in Yuncheng, Shanxi Province, was driving a group of sheep to graze on the mounds behind his house as usual. The village was desolate in winter. Guo Cunsuo saw a bright red color next to the hill. At first he thought someone had thrown the plastic bag. When I got closer, I saw that it was a bird. This bird had a long tail, bright red feathers on its body, and a yellow crest on its head. Guo Cunsuo has lived for more than sixty years and has never seen such a strange bird. This bird has an aura of nobility all over its body and looks extraordinary.
Guo Cunsuo ran quickly towards the birds, hoping to catch one and raise it. However, these birds moved quickly, and Guo Cunsuo didn't catch any of them. After returning home, Guo Cunsuo was lying on the bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep, always thinking about the strange birds he saw during the day. According to his inference, these birds must come out to look for food. As long as there are snowy mountains here, there will be many birds coming to the village to look for food.
Although Guo Cunsuo had no education, he had also heard the story of Runtu catching birds. He found a few sieves and placed them on the hill according to Runtu's method, then scattered a few handfuls of corn below, used small wooden sticks to prop up the sieves, and tied strings to the wooden sticks. Guo Cunsuo hid behind the hill with a string in his hand. He didn't see the strange red bird coming for several hours. The hard work paid off, and after a few days Guo Cunsuo finally captured three strange birds. Guo Cunsuo returned home with these three strange birds, and even the elderly men in the village did not recognize them.
2. Strange birds breed quickly
Guo Cunsuo made a cage with old fishing nets and put the three strange birds he caught in the cage to raise them. Normally, Guo Cunsuo would feed them with corn grains. In Guo Cunsuo's eyes, this kind of The red strange bird is very easy to raise, no different from raising chickens. In 2020, Guo Cunsuo already has 40 red strange birds in his home.
Among the three strange birds he captured previously, two were male and one was female. The 37 birds here were all bred from them. There are strange birds in Guo Cunsuo's home, and he has given birth to more than 30 of them. This news spread throughout the countryside, and many villagers visited Guo Cunsuo's house specifically to see the strange birds. The strange bird of Guo Cunsuo's family is also rumored to be miraculous. Some people say that it is a phoenix. A phoenix once fell on Qishan Mountain back then, and was even seen by King Wen of Zhou Dynasty. Some people say that this bird is actually a kind of pheasant... There are different opinions, and Guo Cunsuo doesn't know which one is better. While the villagers were arguing over the identity of the strange bird, experts from the province came.
3. The prototype of the Phoenix
Animal protection experts from Yuncheng, Shanxi came to Guo Cunsuo's home. They had long heard that old man Guo had raised a group of strange birds. At first they thought they had discovered a new species, and the experts were all excited. Under the leadership of Guo Cunsuo, they saw these red birds in Guo's backyard. After seeing these strange birds, these experts were all shocked.
According to experts, this bird is a national second-level protected animal, and its scientific name is Golden Pheasant. This red-bellied golden pheasant is commonly known as golden pheasant . The weight of an adult chicken can reach 2,000 grams, which is about the same size as a native chicken raised in rural areas. The male golden pheasant looks particularly gorgeous with colorful feathers. The female bird looks very ordinary, with gray feathers. The golden pheasant is a unique bird in my country. Their diet in the wild includes small nuts such as field peas, artemisia annua, and wild cherries. and rose plants. The golden pheasant was once nominated as the national bird . This bird was on the national emblem designed by Lu Xun. In ancient times, it was embroidered on the emperor's dragon robe and named Hua Chong, which means peace and beauty.
The golden pheasant is rarely seen here in Shanxi. It is mainly distributed in the Qinling area of Shaanxi. This time it came to Shanxi for some reason, so many elderly people in the local area do not know it. Guo Cunsuo was able to feed them and even bred more than 30 of them. This surprised the experts. You must know that the artificial breeding technology of Golden Pheasant is not yet mature. This breeding method of Uncle Guo is worth learning from.
As for whether it is a Phoenix, experts also gave an explanation. Archeology has discovered that tribes with the phoenix as their totem in ancient times were roughly distributed in the Guanzhong area. This distribution range coincides with the survival range of the golden pheasant, so the current mainstream view is that the phoenix evolved from the golden pheasant. In this way, it is not wrong to say that it is a phoenix.
4. Follow-up of Golden Pheasant
Although it is not a new species discovered, experts from the Wildlife Conservation Association are still very happy. The discovery of Golden Pheasant in Shanxi shows that their wild population is constantly expanding. The red bellied pheasant in Qinling There are definitely more Golden Pheasants.
The golden pheasant was once on the verge of extinction. In 1980, Chinese scientists used the mark-and-recapture method to investigate the number of golden pheasants in the wild. They found that the total number of golden pheasants in the Qinling area was only 3,000.
The reason why the golden pheasant is endangered is related to its gorgeous appearance. The skin of the male bird could be sold for 5 yuan a piece in the 1960s. According to records, in 1963, one local county in Hunan Province purchased more than 16,000 golden pheasant skins throughout the year. Most of these furs are exported overseas, and foreigners like to use its feathers to decorate furniture. In addition, according to the "Shen Nong's Materia Medica", it is recorded that golden pheasants have the effect of nourishing the kidneys and improving eyesight. Many red-bellied golden pheasants are also hunted and eaten for this reason.
In 2016, the country finally took action and included the golden pheasant into the national secondary protected animal list .
For these 40 golden pheasants, experts are faced with a difficult problem. Should these golden pheasants be kept here and continue to be raised by Uncle Guo? Or take it back to the unit and hand it over to the zoo? On one side is the relevant regulations for national second-level protected animals, and on the other side is the back view of Uncle Guo taking good care of the golden pheasant. In the end, the expert leaders made a difficult choice to continue to let Uncle Guo raise these golden pheasants, and the Wildlife Conservation Association assigned professionals to provide guidance.
With the support of the Provincial Wildlife Conservation Association, Uncle Guo can now raise the "phoenix" he caught with peace of mind. Many bird lovers heard Uncle Guo’s story and came from far and wide just to see what the legendary phoenix looked like. Most of these people came here with their cameras to take pictures, and many of them would stay at Uncle Guo's house.
Uncle Guo revealed to reporters that his home has now become a tourist attraction. After autumn, many people come to take photos at his home. Now he can earn 50,000 yuan a year, which is a lot of money for an old farmer. It seems true that the phoenix can bring good luck to people!
