The "Kingdom of Animals and Plants" Yunnan Province Saves Very Small Species

Let endangered species "survival from extinction"-"The Kingdom of Animals and Plants" Yunnan saves extremely small populations of species

Let endangered species "live from extinction"-"The Kingdom of Animals and Plants" Yunnan saves extremely small population species notes Let endangered species "live from extinction"-"The Kingdom of Animals and Plants" Yunnan saves extremely small population species notes

Xinhua News Agency, Kunming, July 7th, title: Let the endangered species "live from extinction"-"The Kingdom of Animals and Plants" Yunnan saves extremely small populations of species

Xinhua News Agency reporters Wu Xiaoyang, Yue Ranran, Yao Bing, Zhao Peiran

In nature, there are animals and plants whose populations are very small and may become extinct at any time, which are called "very small population species
.

" Rescuing them is the top priority for protecting biodiversity

Over the years, the "Kingdom of Animals and Plants" Yunnan has implemented more than 120 rescue and protection projects to rescue 112 species of very small populations, including Acer palmatum, Fumin trifoliate, Asian elephant, and Yunnan golden monkey
.

From the discovery of 5 plants in the wild to artificial breeding of more than 50,000 Acer palmatum, the Fumin Trifoliate from wild extinction to return to colonization has 6893 plants, the number of Asian elephants has increased from 193 to about 300, and the number of Yunnan golden monkeys has increased from more than 1,000 to more than 3300.
.
.
Species that were once "fate hanging by a thread" are now "surviving from a dead end
.

"

Save and protect, without delay

Save and protect, without delay

The extinction of species is not far away from us
.

The scientific community generally believes that the Earth is currently experiencing the sixth mass extinction, and this time the mass extinction is mainly caused by human activities

The fifth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook issued by the secretariat of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in September last year pointed out that “humanity is at a crossroads on the issue of heritage left to future generations
.

Biodiversity is being lost at an unprecedented rate.

According to information released by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, China has 4,357 species of vertebrates (except marine fish), of which 932 are threatened species that are critically endangered, endangered, and vulnerable
.

Researchers have assessed that there are 35,784 known species of higher plants in China, of which 3,879 are threatened

"Biosphere on Earth form a community of life
extant species are millions of years evolved precious heritage;.

The disappearance of any species, will reduce the stability of the community of life

Committee members

There are thousands of threatened species.
How to prioritize conservation?

"In 2005, Yunnan proposed the concept of 'minimal population', and the implementation of rescue protection action
.

" China Kexue Yuan researcher Kunming Institute of Botany Sun Weibang say, a very small population of the species has four distinct characteristics, namely very small populations, habitat narrow Or it is distributed intermittently, with serious human interference, and is on the verge of extinction at any time

Academy of Sciences

It is urgent to save and protect
.

From concept to action, from local to national, a broad consensus has been formed to save and protect species from very small populations

With the joint efforts of all parties, many extremely small populations at risk have changed their lives against the sky
.

"Plant Giant Panda" Yangbi Maple Escape

"Plant Giant Panda" Yangbi Maple Escape

Yangbi Maple sounds unfamiliar, but it is actually a kind of "maple tree", named after it was discovered in Yangbi County, Yunnan
.

It is a typical wild plant with a very small population and is called "Plant Giant Panda"
.

Its discovery was purely accidental
.
In 2001, China Ke Xueyuan Dr.
Chen Institute of Botany, gave birth while viewing Aceraceae specimens found were collected from a Yangbi County Malutang, marked specimens Gongshan Gongshan maple and maple are different, presumably a new species
.
In April of the following year, he went to the Malutang in Yangbi County to conduct a field investigation and found this plant after several setbacks.
At that time, only 5 plants were found in the wild.
Later, he named it Yangbi Maple
.

Academy of Sciences

"Its leaves are fluffy, like a fat palm
.
The fruit has a pair of fruit wings, like dragonfly wings
.
" Chen Yousheng said, the habitat of Yangbi maple is obviously degraded, and human activities are seriously disturbed
.

To artificially propagate Yangbi Acer, it is necessary to solve the two major problems of pollination and seed germination
.

Due to the distance between the plants, the pollination efficiency of Acer yangbi is not high, and few seeds are produced
.
Researchers have tried grafting, but failed
.
Later, Zhang Guoshu, a member of the Malutang village who participated in the protection of Yangbi maple, thought of an "earth method": when the Yangbi maple blooming season, he cut off the flowering branches of one tree and tied it to another tree.
Unexpectedly, the pollination was successful
.
In the autumn of 2008, the successful pollination of Yangbi Maple harvested a batch of seeds
.

In the natural habitat, the seed germination rate of Acer palmatum is very low
.
The local forestry department had routinely planted more than 50,000 seeds, and only 5 seedlings were obtained
.
Entrusted by Chen Yousheng, Zhang Guoshu sent thousands of seeds to Sun Weibang and asked him to help artificial seedlings
.
Sun Weibang did not dare to neglect, and led the team to quickly research and master the key technology of "awakening" seeds, and successfully cultivated more than 1600 Yangbi maple seedlings
.

At present, the Yangbi Acer seedlings cultivated by Sun Weibang’s team have been planted in the Kunming Botanical Garden, more than 4,600 have returned to their original habitat, and 4,000 have been planted in Caojian Forest Farm in Yunlong County and Zhicun Forest Farm in Honghe Prefecture.
There are about 38,000 plants in the nursery waiting to return to nature
.
He said: "Now it can be said that the'Plant Giant Panda' Yangbi Maple has been out of danger!"

From resource investigation, scientific research, in-situ conservation, near-field conservation, ex-situ conservation, field return to conservation of germplasm resources, Yangbi Acer’s rescue and conservation practices provide a reference for the conservation of other very small populations of wild plants
.

According to the Yunnan Forestry and Grass Bureau, Yunnan has built 30 in situ conservation communities, 18 ex-situ conservation bases, and 4 near-field conservation bases
.
A group of wild plants with very small populations, such as Diantong, Dianzhuan, Fumin Trifoliate, Huagao, and Big Tree Rhododendron, were rescued from the extinction warning line
.

Wild Elephant "Sheep Girl": From "Abandoned Baby" to "Star"

Wild Elephant "Sheep Girl": From "Abandoned Baby" to "Star"

More than a dozen wild Asian elephants in Yunnan have recently become the focus of global public opinion
.
In fact, Asian elephants are also a typical species with very small populations
.
They are mainly distributed in the three prefectures of Xishuangbanna, Pu'er and Lincang in Yunnan, and are critically endangered
.

This group of wild elephants moving north is not the earliest "star" in the wild elephant world
.
Before they became popular, there was an Asian elephant called "Goat Niu" who completed a counterattack from "abandoned baby" to "star"
.

Six years ago, on August 17, 2015, in Ganlanba, Simao District, Pu'er City, an old woman found an abandoned newborn baby elephant in her firewood room.
It looked dying and the wound on the umbilical cord had become suppurated
.
She fed the baby elephant some water and called the wildlife rescue station
.

Later, the baby elephant was sent to the Yunnan Asian Elephant Provenance Breeding and Rescue Center in Xishuangbanna, China
.
The medical staff debride it, reduce inflammation, and take in nutrients
.
The elephant's milk was not found, so the doctors decided to feed the baby elephant with goat's milk
.
Since the baby elephant is "a sheep" and grew up drinking goat's milk, everyone named this female elephant "Yang Niu"
.

The first person "Yang Niu" saw when he opened his eyes was Chen Jiming
.
He studied wild elephant domestication and breeding skills in Laos for 6 years.
After returning to China, he applied for an Asian elephant breeding and rescue center to become an "elephant father"
.
He said: "In the beginning, our four'elephant fathers' took turns taking care of it and we shared a room with it at night
.
After it slowly recovered, it became more active and even climbed onto the bed to sleep with others
.
"

In order for the "yangniu" to grow up smoothly, it is necessary to find a "mother" for it
.
According to Chen Jiming, the rescue center identified two female elephants-Ranran and Pingping as temporary mothers for "Yang Niu", but at the beginning, as soon as "Yang Niu" got close, the two female elephants would chase them away, probably because of "Ran Ran" and "Ping Ping".
"Goat Niu" has the smell of goat mutton on her body
.
"Elephant Dad" thought of an "Elephant Dung Covering Plan".
They found elephant dung from two female elephants and smeared "Sheep Niu" all over the body
.
This time it worked, and the two female elephants began to play with the "goat girl" happily
.

Now, the 6-year-old "Yang Niu" has grown into a "big girl" with a height of 1.
7 meters and a weight of 1.
3 tons
.
Rewilding training has become a daily routine
.
Every morning, after "Yang Niu" took her body temperature, she followed "Papa Elephant" up the mountain to learn to identify foods that can be eaten in the wild
.
The staff also gave it a vibrato account and posted videos of "Yang Niu" sliding hillsides, playing football, and selling cute, and received nearly 10 million likes
.

"Wild elephants are wild after all.
In order to alleviate human-elephant conflicts, we built elephant fences for villagers, used high-tech means to monitor and early warning, and strive to make human elephants live in harmony
.
" Say
.
At present, the population of wild Asian elephants in Yunnan has increased from 193 at the low point to about 300
.
The rescue center where "Yang Niu" is located has participated in the rescue of more than 20 wild elephants
.

The counterattack of Asian elephants is not an isolated case
.
Through measures such as habitat restoration, food source construction, species dynamic monitoring, and ecological corridor construction, the protection of very small populations of animals in Yunnan has achieved remarkable results
.
Monitoring shows that the populations of “national treasures” such as the Yunnan golden monkey, green peacock, and black-necked crane have shown a restorative growth
.