Under the leadership of the Zhejiang Provincial Xianju Wildlife Conservation Association Party Branch, party member volunteers drove away venomous snakes from the wild pond herons living near Xianju City, and helped them safely breed offspring by re-arrangement. High temperature and exhaustion cannot conceal it. Everyone’s inner joy. Pictures provided by Xianju Wildlife Conservation Association
[Environmental Protection Written Talk]
From the perspective of transforming the world, human beings rely on modern technology to create a highly developed civilization in the sky and on the earth. But at the same time, human beings are not so powerful that they are arrogant. There is still a side of helplessness and weakness: humans are still unable to survive in some extreme environments, and a small virus can turn human society upside down... At this time, we I can’t help but find that humans still need to bend down and learn from animals. So, what can we learn from animals about ?
The first thing many people think of is bionic . For example, scientists imitated maple trees to release seeds with "wings" and created the world's smallest aircraft as large as fruit fly . I believe that the essence of bionics is that humans face up to their own shortcomings. From an evolutionary perspective, humans are never perfect. Losing our tail gave us the convenience of walking upright, but also led to a higher risk of birth defects in spinal cord development. We have evolved highly developed brains, but the brain-to-body weight ratio is six times that of other mammals, causing the rate of dystocia in humans to skyrocket.
In evolution, there are two major indicators to measure the success of a species-fitness and reproductive ability. In terms of fitness, 70,000 years ago, human ancestors - Homo sapiens - began to migrate from the African grasslands and now have footprints all over the world. But compared to other lives, this is nothing. Animals can survive in deserts that humans cannot adapt to; animals can survive in mountains that humans cannot survive; even the deep sea that humans once could not reach - Mariana Trench , traces of animals have been found. From the perspective of reproducing offspring, human beings are even less successful. Homo sapiens has been around for about 200,000 to 300,000 years, but the species has been relatively sparse for most of that time. Currently, the number of humans has reached 7.9 billion, but this is only a population explosion from a small population, resulting in a high degree of genetic similarity between modern humans, with the difference between individuals being less than one ten thousandth. Such low genetic diversity is far lower than even the genetic variation within a small number of wild chimpanzee groups, making us very vulnerable to the onset of plague.
In the long-term evolution, animals have found ways to get along with their peers, and this is what we should learn. No matter how ferocious an animal is, it will not drive away all its prey. Looking back at humans, the evolution process is too fast, and as the human population expands, the extinction rate of species is 100 to 1,000 times faster than before. 50,000 years ago, Homo sapiens entered Australia, and just 2,000 years later, 23 of the 24 species of animals weighing more than 50 kilograms were extinct. Homo sapiens entered the Americas 16,000 years ago, and large animals such as mammoths, mastodons, saber-toothed tigers, giant ground sloths, giant bears, native horses, and native camels all became extinct. During the 15,000 years that humans coexisted with about 80% of megafauna, extinction events occurred.
In modern society, human beings’ destruction of wild animals and plants is not just about trading and killing, but also affecting species diversity at all levels. Currently, two-thirds of the world's wild animal habitats have been disturbed and destroyed by humans, leaving large numbers of wild animals displaced and at risk of extinction. Some people may think that there are tens of millions of species on the earth, and it would not be a big deal if one or two become extinct. However, the ecosystem is an organic whole, and various organisms are interconnected and interact with each other. The reduction or extinction of certain organisms will inevitably affect the ecosystem in which they live. If the ecosystem is severely damaged, humans will not be able to survive alone. For example, studies have shown that once species diversity declines sharply, viruses in wild animals need to find new hosts, and the chance of humans being infected with zoonotic diseases will greatly increase.
In the long evolution, how to live in harmony with the natural environment is what humans should learn from animals.In nature, all animals are in the food web , subject to resource constraints and threats from natural enemies. From birth to death, they are integrated into the earth's material cycle and energy cycle, forming a dynamic balance. Take the Yunnan golden monkeys that live in the dark coniferous forests of primitive alpine forests as an example. They are closely connected with other species through the food chain. By feeding on plant seeds, they promote forest replacement and maintain ecological balance. Half of the food of Yunnan golden monkeys in winter is usnea. Usnea is parasitic on fir and spruce. If usnea grows too fast, it will cause harm to the forest. However, if the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey eats up all the usneas in this area, it will affect its next round of feeding. Therefore, over the years of evolution, the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey has developed a habit similar to humans' moving habits - it will move to the next place before the food in this area is exhausted. Such behavior not only meets its own survival needs, but also protects plants and forests, thereby achieving sustainable development in harmony with the environment.
Some people may question that so-called pests such as locusts , rats, marmots can also cause damage to the environment. But in fact, these animals are controlled by complex food webs and environmental factors, and are difficult to harm in nature. Take the marmot as an example. As food for dozens of raptors and beasts, it is an important link in the natural food chain. However, because humans once entered the grassland and poisoned rats on a large scale, they indirectly harmed the marmot's natural enemies - birds of prey and beasts of prey, which caused the marmot's reproduction to lose control. Instead, it destroyed the grassland and spread plague. It can be seen that destroying the ecological balance is shooting oneself in the foot.
Man follows the earth, earth follows heaven, heaven follows Tao, and Tao follows nature. Wild animals and humans are members of the ecosystem, and together with all things in nature form a community with a shared future, they deserve our deep awe. We still need to make more efforts to respect nature, comply with nature, protect nature, and build an earth home where man and nature coexist harmoniously.
(Author: Zhao Xumao, a young researcher at Lanzhou University)
