Every winter, the black swans in Beijing's Old Summer Palace Scenic Area begin to breed baby swans one after another, and not long ago, three baby swans here unfortunately died.
The black swan population has been taking root in Beijing for more than a decade and has continued to grow and now reaches hundreds. In the Old Summer Palace Scenic Area, the reporter saw that there were many mallard ducks and black swans playing in the lake.
The staff of the management office of the Old Summer Palace told reporters that this year, there are obviously more tourists who come to feed and pay attention to the breeding of black swans than in previous years, in addition to worrying about the cold weather and the difficulty of foraging for black swans, there is also a reason that not long ago the black swans "Winter Forest" bred seven little swans, three of which died, which quickly attracted everyone's attention.
Expert: Scientific and rational protection does not interfere unless necessary
What was the reason for the death of the three little black swans in the Old Summer Palace?Experts say that it is normal for young birds to die during the breeding period of black swans, and wintering is a challenge that every baby swan has to experience, and excessive love and intervention by humans is not conducive to the reproduction of swan populations.
Deng Wenhong, Professor, School of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University:In the process of winter reproduction, due to factors such as climate and food, it will naturally lead to the failure of some individuals of black swans to adapt to the environment, resulting in the death of individuals, which is also a result of natural selection. Because in the long-term evolutionary process, organisms have formed a certain genetic mechanism or life history characteristics, in this case, some individuals, especially weak individuals, are easily eliminated by natural selection, because of the survival of the fittest and the survival of the fittest.
As for the practice of feeding the swans for food when they are worried about the difficulty of foraging for the swans in winter, experts say that it is not recommended or advocated.
Deng Wenhong, Professor, School of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University:Throwing a lot of food into the black swan is not a particularly good thing for the black swan itself, and it is likely to become dependent on human feeding, so its ability to hunt for its own food will be reduced. It is not recommended for netizens to give some artefacts, especially some artefacts, such as bread or spicy strips or other such artefacts. In extreme climatic conditions or natural conditions, humans can help appropriately, but the less often this help is better, that is, as little as possible. For example, in Kalamaili, Xinjiang, when there is heavy snow or snowstorm, they will provide Mongolian wild asses or Przewalski's horses with some forage and food, which can help them tide over the difficulties.
So is it feasible to artificially build a warm nest to help the swans survive the winter in severe cold weather?
Deng Wenhong, Professor, School of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University:Because in the process of survival in winter, animals will also look for something that can keep warm, such as some bark fibers or some dead grass, it is also a genetic mechanism in the long-term evolution in the process of searching. If too much human intervention will weaken this genetic mechanism, which will reduce the viability of the black swan population, and will lead to a decrease in the number of this population, or there will be a relatively large number fluctuation.
At present, the management department of the Old Summer Palace is also trying to provide scientific care for the smooth breeding of black swans, and avoid the adverse effects of extremely cold weather on black swan breeding as much as possible.
Li Jingli, deputy director of the Management Office of Yuanmingyuan, Haidian District, Beijing:Every year after the eleventh day, when we hunt reeds in different waters, we keep some reeds for waterfowl to roost there. In addition, in different water areas, we set up about 10 different pumps for them to take water and live for their daily use.
*:CCTV News Client |Written by Song Yunyan.
Editor: Mo Fan.
Process Editor: Guo Dan.