As the weather gets colder, thousands of alligators in the Anhui Yangtze Alligator National Nature Reserve are about to start moving, moving from the outdoors to the indoor to survive the cold winter. This year, unlike previous years, the first batch of "in-situ wintering ponds" for Chinese alligators in the reserve was officially opened. In addition to the more than 2,000 alligators that still enter the greenhouse through artificial transfer to spend the winter, more than 2,000 other alligators will crawl into the artificial cave to spend the winter.
So how many steps are there to move the crocodile?And what does this "wintering pool in place" look like?
The staff of the reserve transferred the alligators in the breeding pond to the winter house. Source: China**.
The alligator is going to warm up for the winter again
On the morning of December 10, in the breeding crocodile breeding pond in the Anhui Yangtze Alligator National Nature Reserve, the reporter saw that the staff was relaying the Chinese alligators in the pond and putting them into the tricycle, and then transported them to the wintering greenhouse.
On the morning of the same day, the Anhui Yangtze Alligator National Nature Reserve officially launched the 2023 adult Yangtze alligator wintering transfer work. According to reports, more than 2,000 Chinese alligators need to be manually transferred to the greenhouse for wintering this year.
In the breeding crocodile breeding pool, the reporter noticed that the alligator caught by the staff did not look big. According to reports, these Chinese alligators are under the age of 7. The staff skillfully grabbed dozens of alligators from the pool and put them into the tricycle, and although the alligators rarely struggled violently in their hands, the roars of the alligators in the car could be clearly heard.
Many people have the impression that crocodiles are very ferocious, and moving crocodiles with bare hands sounds dangerous. But in fact, among all crocodiles, the Chinese alligator has a very docile temperament and is timid, and generally does not actively attack humans. But the alligator is still a crocodile after all, and it also retains its ferocious nature. Therefore, moving for the Chinese alligator requires professional staff to operate. The staff said.
According to the staff, "due to the relatively high temperature this year, compared with previous years, the transition to wintering has been postponed by about ten days. Transitions are in descending order. Today is the first day, and the first to move are mainly young crocodiles under the age of 7, which are less adaptable to the environment and need to move indoors as soon as possible. Before moving into the greenhouse, the alligator needs to be rinsed and disinfected. After settling in, the temperature of the wintering room will be kept at about 10, and there are staff who regularly clean and moisturize to ensure that the Chinese alligators spend the winter safely. ”
An alligator entering the conservatory. Source: Dawan News.
2,000 Chinese alligators "wintering in place".
This year, there is a new change in the reserve, and the "wintering in situ" project has been officially launched, and about 2,000 Chinese alligators will "winter in situ".
At the beginning of this year, the reserve completed the construction of an "in-situ wintering pond" for the alligators, and built an artificial cave in the pool where the alligators live their daily life, which can not only control the temperature and humidity, but also monitor the status of the alligators in real time. This has reduced the pressure on this year's alligator wintering transition work, and also provided a more comfortable hibernation plan for the more than 10,000 alligators artificially bred in the reserve.
When the temperature drops, the alligator will crawl through the hole into the artificial burrow. As can be seen from the surveillance footage, many Chinese alligators have begun to try to enter here before. The staff said that with the opening of these "in-place wintering pools", perhaps in the near future, there will be fewer and fewer scenes for moving Chinese alligators.
The Yangtze alligator "wintering in situ" project is the first financial forestry reform and development fund project in 2021, with a total investment of 16.15 million yuan, which has carried out the transformation and upgrading of the ecological environment and infrastructure in the habitat, and the construction of supporting monitoring, thermal insulation and heating systems.
After the project is put into use in early 2023, it alleviates the problem of high-density feeding of Chinese alligators, realizes fixed-point monitoring and behavior monitoring of Chinese alligators, completely changes the wintering mode of Chinese alligators, avoids the damage to Chinese alligators during wintering recapture and release, and provides a better wintering environment for Chinese alligators.
Beneath the fierce exterior is a docile character
The Chinese alligator is a rare species endemic to China, listed as a national first-class protected wild animal in 1972, and is also listed as critically endangered by the IUCN Red List, and is one of the most endangered species of the world's 24 crocodiles. As an amphibian and reptile cold-blooded animal, the Chinese alligator will gradually enter a state of hibernation around December every year, and wake up around April of the following year.
At present, there are about 10,000 artificially bred Chinese alligators in Anhui Yangtze Alligator National Nature Reserve. The reserve has carried out 19 wild release activities of Chinese alligators, and a total of 1,608 alligators have been released since 2003.
According to the results of the 2023 field survey, it is estimated that the wild population of Chinese alligators in Anhui Province is close to 1,200. The reserve has built 10 artificial caves, most of the alligators will crawl into the artificial cave for winter, for the small number of alligators who did not enter the artificial cave on their own, after the weather turns cold, will arrange staff to move to the nearest artificial cave.
*: Perspective Society Comprehensive CCTV Network, China ** Network, Anhui **, Dawan News Report Editor Production: Liu Songling, Liao Mingjuan (Xi) Proofreading: Li Xuying.
Review: Gong Zimo.