There is such a girl born in the 1990s in Xinjiang. When she was 7 years old, she followed her father to participate in some field scientific research tasks, and has become attached to wild animals ever since. When she grew up, the girl naturally became a wildlife protector. Her job in Xinjiang was to protect a magical animal called the "Mengxin Beaver."
Her name is Chu Wenwen, and she once appeared on the stage of the United Nations. As her deeds became known to more people, the Mongolian beaver also began to enter the public eye. Thanks to the efforts of Chu Wenwen and her team, the number of beavers in Mengxin has gradually increased since 2018, with an increase of about 20%.
The Mengxin beaver is A rodent that looks like a large mouse, it ranks second in size among the rodent family, second only to the capybara, which ranks first.
Beavers have four incisors. Because the enamel is rich in iron, the incisors are reddish copper in color. Its tail is flat and has scales on it, which shows that they have a very advanced swimming ability. At the same time, the tail is also the most obvious feature that distinguishes beavers from nutria.
What previously attracted attention in Shanghai was the "nine-pound rat" on the sign in front of the two-climbing aquarium in the Anqing Zoo. Many people said it was a beaver, but it was actually a nutria.
Nature's "Engineer"
Beavers are very strange animals. They must have water in their lives. Running water is not enough, it must be a pool like a pond. If there is none in the environment, they will build it themselves. Therefore, in nature, people can often see some dams made of trees. They are the masterpieces of beavers, and people call them "beaver dams".
Beavers are very dependent on water. If they find a natural enemy, they will immediately hide in the water and not show up for a long time. In addition, the construction of beaver caves is also very unique, as they are built on the water. They accumulate branches and soil in the water, or use banks to form high ridges, which are covered with trees to form semi-enclosed spaces, which are the caves where beavers live.
The entrance to the beaver burrow must be underwater, which causes them to become restless once the water level drops. Therefore, building dams to store water has become the beaver's most enthusiastic undertaking.
Beaver’s teeth are the most acid-resistant among mammals and are rich in iron, so they are very hard. The ends of the teeth are chisel-shaped and can easily chew off a piece of wood. In order to collect moreLogs were piled up to form dikes, and beavers gnawed tirelessly on the trees.
For example, the places after the Chernobyl incident, although no humans have set foot there, are already a paradise for wild animals. Next to a drainage ditch in the former Soviet Union, a large number of large trees were cut off from the bottom, as if someone did it deliberately, but in fact it was done by beavers.
You don’t need to worry about the wear and tear of their teeth, because in addition to being hard, they are still growing. Beavers have webbed back paws for swimming, and unwebbed front paws with sharp claws that are good at digging and can dig a canal to carry the wood they have chewed. Because beavers are so good at building dams, they are also known as nature's "engineers."
"Beaver dams" have advantages and disadvantages
Beavers build dams. This is their spontaneous behavior and their nature. However, the construction of dams is invisible. It also has some impact on other animals and even the environment. Some impacts are positive, and some impacts are negative.
First of all, one thing should be clear Beavers intercept streams to form pools, and inadvertently transform the environment into a wetland-type ecosystem, which will benefit all organisms that depend on the wetland ecosystem.
Especially for some plants, fish, insects and microorganisms, the benefits are more obvious. Due to the presence of beavers, local biodiversity has increased.
In addition, research has found that the pools, lakes, etc. formed by beavers' dams help the ecosystem resist climate change and prevent wildfires. They are also helpful in storing water and replenishing underground aquifers.
As the saying goes, there are pros and cons. Although the dams built by beavers will bring benefits to the local ecosystem, they also have certain harms.
The most obvious point is the safety hazard issue. Artificially constructed reinforced concrete embankments have collapsed and been destroyed, not to mention the embankments formed by beavers simply stacking trees. Once the rainy season arrives and water levels rise rapidly, beaver dams are at risk of breaching, which could lead to flooding downstream.
For example, a survey in the United States shows that floods caused by beaver dams alone cause losses of US$22 million to the US timber industry a year.
In addition, the construction of dams by beavers may also cause local roads, farmland, and buildings to be flooded, saturate the soil, and cause bridge collapse.
Cute and timid, being caught "stressed""Shan Da"
Beavers are actually cute and timid animals. One of their favorite things to do every day is to chew trees, but did you know? They often end up chewing the big trees by themselves. The tree is smashed to death.
Beavers have very hard incisors and are good at chewing. The way they chew on trees is to chew around the trunk until the trunk is broken. Although they are good at chewing trees, they They don't know how to control the direction of falling trees, so there is a certain risk of being crushed to death. In this regard, beavers look quite stupid.
They mainly live at night, usually in the water or It is very timid when it comes to activities near water. Once it is frightened or senses signs of danger around it, it will immediately jump into the water. Sometimes it will use its broad tail to slap the water hard, on the one hand to demonstrate, and on the other hand to Remind companions around them of danger.
Beavers have extremely poor psychological quality and often feel nervous. Any disturbance around them can arouse their vigilance. Sometimes they feel danger and dive into the water, and they will not show up for a long time. .
When they are caught, they will experience tremendous psychological pressure and even go on a hunger strike. When they get old, their personalities will change and they will become warlike and wealthy. Aggression.
Beaver attacks are not uncommon in real life. For example, in 2012, two girls in Virginia were attacked by beavers; and in 2013, a man in Belarus was taking photos. An artery was bitten by a beaver, and he eventually lost too much blood and left this world.
There is only one kind of beaver in our country, that is, the Mongolian-Xinjiang beaver. They are mainly distributed in Mongolia and Xinjiang, China, so they have Name. The number of beavers in Mengxin is very rare. In order to protect this lovely animal, Chu Wenwen and her friends have been working hard.
Based on the habits of beavers, the most important thing is to protect beavers One of their tasks is to plant trees. For this reason, they decided to plant 410,000 trees in the Ulungu River to ensure sufficient survival resources for the Mengxin beavers.