Due to the increase of human activities or improper activities, the number of accidental deaths of baiji has increased. According to statistics, during the period from1973 to1985, 59 people died accidentally, among which 29 people died because of fishing hooks or other fishing gear, accounting for 48.8%; 1 1 The head died in the river blasting operation, accounting for18.6%; 12 head was killed by ship propeller, accounting for 20%; 6 heads were stranded and died, accounting for10%; 1 head mistakenly entered the sluice, accounting for 1.6%. According to statistics, one third of the accidental deaths of baiji in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River were killed by ship propellers.
1997165438+1October 4 ~ 10, organized by the Ministry of Agriculture, has more than 200 scientific research and fishery workers from six provinces and cities, including Hubei, Hunan, Anhui, Jiangxi, Jiangsu and Shanghai, starting from Zhicheng, Hubei, to the Yangtze River estuary in Shanghai. After 7 days of hard observation, the existing number of baiji dolphins is not optimistic, which is less than 100. The distribution range has also been greatly reduced, and it is difficult to see baiji in the upper reaches of Zhicheng, the lower reaches of Nanjing, Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake. In the past ten years, the number of baiji dolphins has dropped by nearly 100, which cannot but cause people's shock. According to experts' analysis, another main reason for the sharp decline of the baiji is the increasingly serious water pollution in the Yangtze River and the rapid decrease of fish resources, which makes the baiji's food resources increasingly scarce.
The current situation tells people that no matter when the Three Gorges Project is completed, everyone must take urgent action and take comprehensive measures to rescue the baiji. ? After the impoundment of the Three Gorges Reservoir, the discharge and water depth in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River will increase during the dry season, which is extremely beneficial for the baiji to survive the winter and is expected to avoid being stranded and dying. Strengthening management can greatly reduce accidental deaths caused by fishery activities; However, due to the development of shipping in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, there will be more and more incidents of baiji being killed by ship propellers in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Therefore, we should study the reasons why the baiji chased the propeller of the ship and take practical countermeasures. In order to protect the baiji, the best countermeasure is to establish a nature reserve with strict management and advanced equipment.
The baiji dolphin nature reserve in Xinluo section of the Yangtze River has been approved by the Ministry of Agriculture. It starts from Luoshan and ends at Xintankou River, with a total length of135km. The river surface in this area is wide, the river course is tortuous, the water depth is about 25 meters, and the flow rate is about 0.3 ~ 0.8 meters per second. Shoals and Jiang Xinzhou are scattered all over the place, which is the most densely distributed water area of baiji. The upstream of this area is close to the Dongting Lake exit, and Honghu Lake, Huanggai Lake, Xiliang Lake, Wuhu Lake and Lushui Reservoir flow into it. There are chicken heads, Sanmao chickens and Chibi chickens along the coast, which highlight the river and control the flow direction and flow pattern.
The natural conditions mentioned above work together to form many deep valleys and large backwaters in the nature reserve, which is an ideal living environment for baiji.
The main tasks of nature reserves are:
(1) Provide superior natural living environment for protected objects, avoid human interference and protect the survival and reproduction of rare species;
(2) Resolutely ban harmful fishing gear, prohibit fishing operations in protected areas and some areas outside protected areas, and investigate and correct behaviors that damage the living environment such as illegal navigation and illegal discharge of "three wastes" by motor vessels;
(3) Rescue the injured, accidentally caught and stranded rare aquatic animals;
(4) Regularly observe and record the activities and population changes of rare aquatic animals in the reserve.
(five) to publicize the relevant laws and regulations and protection knowledge, so that the protection of rare species becomes the conscious action of the masses;
⑥ Establish an experimental base for the study of rare aquatic animals, especially reproductive biology.
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On June1980 65438+1October1day, several fishermen in Jiayu County, Hubei Province accidentally found a white dolphin straying into the shallow waters of Dongting Lake while fishing for freshwater fish in the Yangtze River estuary. Then they blocked the exit of shallow water with fishing boats and hooked the baiji out of the water with iron hooks. Caught at the back of the white dolphin's neck while fishing, the fisherman accidentally hooked two big holes with a diameter of 4 cm and a depth of about 8 cm by the big iron hook on the fishing boat, and the fisherman informed the local fishery department. After learning the news, Wuhan Institute of Hydrology, China Academy of Sciences rushed to the scene overnight. The next morning, it took 5 hours and 50 minutes to successfully move the injured baiji into the pool water of Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. At that time, the dolphin was measured to be 1.47 m long and weighed 36.5 kg. It is a male, and experts from China Academy of Sciences estimate its age to be about two years old.
Within a week after fishing back to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the wound on the back of his neck was seriously infected. Experts from Chinese Academy of Sciences treated the wound with integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine, and specially made a vest for the dolphin, and applied Yunnan Baiyao to the wound on its back. After four months, the wound healed and recovered immediately.
Shortly after the recovery of the baiji, Wu Xianwen, then director of the Institute of Aquatic Sciences of China Academy of Sciences, a famous ichthyologist in China and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Professor Hu Hongdiao, then deputy director of the Institute of Aquatic Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, gave the baiji a name-"Qiqi". It means three, and the word "qi" represents the rarity and strangeness of this dolphin; Second, "Qi" is next to Sanshui point, which is suitable for naming aquatic animals; The word "Qi" (qí) is the same as the word "fin" of Baiji dolphin.
Since 1992, Qiqi has been kept in a closed circular cement pool with a water circulation filtration system. The annual water temperature is controlled between 23℃ and 25℃. The pool has a diameter of12m, a depth of 3.5m, three steps and a width of 0.8m.. There are five circular drainage holes at the bottom of the pool center and six water inlet holes around the pool wall. In order to ensure Qiqi's health and facilitate observation, the transparency of the pool water is kept above 3.5 meters.
People who come to see Qiqi often refer to the Baiji Dolphin Museum of Institute of Aquatic Sciences of Chinese Academy of Sciences as "Bai Mansion". Bai Mansion has since become a major attraction of Chinese Academy of Sciences. Since then, China Academy of Sciences has begun to study and protect the white dolphins. Qiqi, as the first indoor captive dolphin in the modern world, enjoys a high reputation in the international fisheries academic session. Many foreign scholars called the Chinese Academy of Sciences to celebrate and learn about Qiqi's new news.
At first, the staff of China Academy of Sciences didn't know the eating habits of baiji. They used to make steamed bread and meat into fish shapes for Qiqi to eat. However, it was later found that the baiji only ate fresh and live freshwater fish, and mainly ate silver carp from spring to autumn, about 6 kilograms a day; From autumn to winter, we mainly eat carp and crucian carp, 7.5 kilograms a day.
1986, Qiqi was almost eight years old and reached the mature age of Baibo Dolphin. The body length and weight are stable at 2.2m and 125kg respectively. In May and June every year, Qiqi enters estrus, the light gray back will turn red, and the pink genitals will often emerge from the abdomen, so Qiqi will keep jumping in the pool. Therefore, the staff of Institute of Aquatic Sciences of Chinese Academy of Sciences began to look for a female baiji as a spouse for Qiqi.
Find a partner
Baiji dolphin is a rare aquatic mammal endemic to China, distributed in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Rare in number, endangered and beautifully shaped, it is known as the "goddess of the Yangtze River". It is the most endangered animal in China and one of the most endangered animals in the world. To some extent, it is more precious than the giant panda.
Qiqi is one of the "Goddess". It was captured by fishermen from the mouth of Dongting Lake in June 1980 and sent to Wuhan Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences for artificial propagation, becoming the only baiji in the world.
1997 10 A Guiyang native learned about Qiqi from China Youth Daily and formed an indissoluble bond with it. This Guiyang native, alias "Aiqi", insisted on sending money to Qiqi every month since the establishment of 1997 Wuhan Baiqi Dolphin Protection Foundation, and it never stopped until Qiqi passed away quietly in July 2002. On June 10 of that month, Aiqi's remittance to Qiqi became a human donation to Qiqi.
Archie never allowed the media to reveal his real name. He said: "Love" is natural. Everyone has the right to choose his own love, and he has no intention to influence others through his behavior in the newspaper, so maybe love is more real and eternal.
In China, the muddy water and smog of the Yangtze River, coupled with the rapid flow of the Yangtze River, people still need great patience to find the trace of baiji by boat. For the backward scientific research equipment in China in 1980s, it is even more difficult for the Institute of Aquatic Sciences of Chinese Academy of Sciences to locate and capture the female baiji alive. 1985 15 years 10 in mid-October, Dr. Gerwater, Dean of Duisburg Zoology College in West Germany, was invited to take a boat in the waters more than 800 miles near Dongting Lake in the Yangtze River basin, and used sonar equipment to find and capture the baiji, but in the end it failed. At that time, Dr. Gewater also asserted that it was impossible to capture the baiji alive in the Yangtze River without more advanced equipment and technology. However, five months later, on March 3 1, 1986, Wan Enquan, then a fisherman from Honghu Lake, and members of the Yangtze River Baiji dolphin expedition team led by local fishermen, successfully captured them in Guanyinzhou, Jingzhou, with the guidance and help of Hua, a senior engineer from Institute of Hydrology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The two baiji dolphins were transported to the outdoor pool of the Institute of Aquatic Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences by the same dry transport method as their temporary homes. I didn't put them in Baigongguan at first, for fear that Qiqi wouldn't be able to adapt for a while, because Qiqi was only two years old when he was caught, but he has been artificially raised in Baigongguan for six years and has never "seen" another baiji.
The researchers of Institute of Aquatic Sciences of Chinese Academy of Sciences then measured and named them. The female is called "Pearl Krabs" and the male is called "Lianlian". It is found that Lianlian is Pearl Krabs's father dolphin. After Pearl Krabs and Lian Lian moved into the Institute of Aquatic Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, they were not used to the artificial breeding environment for some time and went on a hunger strike. Hospital staff soon found that Pearl Krabs had difficulty breathing without water. Even for a few days, he didn't have the strength to swim out of the water to breathe. Even though he was on a hunger strike, he tried his best to lift Pearl Krabs's head out of the water and let it breathe to avoid suffocation. This scene touched the scientists in the hospital [4]. They began to expand the pool for father and daughter in Bai Mansion.
1986 June 14 died before moving into baifu new pool. It only survived for 76 days under the condition of artificial reproduction.
Pearl Krabs is especially sad for his dead father. After moving into the newly-built pool in Baigongguan, he began to hunger strike intermittently. Experts from China Academy of Sciences artificially fed special fish sauce to keep Pearl Krabs healthy. The newly-built swimming pool and Qiqi's swimming pool are separated by a concrete wall, because at first, I was afraid Qiqi wouldn't adapt to Pearl Krabs's invasion of its residence. However, when the swimming pool in Pearl Krabs was completed, a waterway wide enough to accommodate a dolphin was left in the middle. If they want, Pearl Krabs or Qiqi can swim into the pool of another baiji at any time. After moving into Bai Mansion for a week, he found himself swimming around the opening of the waterway. Qiqi is also curiously surrounded by another opening of the waterway. One day, the experts put the hydrophone in the middle of the waterway, and as a result, they heard the 6 kilohertz whistle of communication between dolphins. A few days later, experts found Pearl Krabs swimming in Qiqi's swimming pool. Qiqi looks a little scared and hides in a corner. This lasted for a week, and Pearl Krabs and Qiqi gradually got to know each other. Only at that time, Pearl Krabs was not sexually mature when she was captured, so she couldn't get pregnant. However, experts found that sexual characteristics began to appear after Pearl Krabs entered Qiqi's swimming pool. In the second year, Qiqi and Pearl Krabs often had sexual intercourse in estrus, but Pearl Krabs didn't reach sexual maturity after all, so she never got pregnant. 1September 27th, 988, Pearl Krabs suddenly fell ill and died unfortunately. Artificial rearing for 2.5 years is the longest-lived baiji in the protected environment after Qiqi.
/kloc-0 At the end of 995, a female baiji was captured in Shishou Valley of the Yangtze River in Hubei Province. Experts haven't had time to transport it to Baigongguan to be paired with Qiqi, and this female dolphin, which was temporarily released to the Yangtze River in Shishou Swan Island, unfortunately died in the flood in the following summer.
1999 In early 1999, local migrant workers found a stranded female dolphin on the beach west of Chongming Island in the Yangtze River estuary of Shanghai, with a body length of more than 2 meters and a weight of 100 kilograms. Because those migrant workers didn't know it was a rare "giant panda in water" in China, it was trapped in the pond for seven days. Finally, the relevant departments were notified. On the tenth day, the expert rushed to the scene, but because it had been fasting for seven days, it caused heart failure. He died just after being transported to Shanghai.
Three females caught by aquatic scientists looking for a mate for Qiqi died before they could mate with Qiqi in white public relations. These three failures can be said to be the last failure of artificial reproduction of baiji. Qiqi, who is sexually mature, lives alone in Bai Mansion and is particularly lonely. According to experts, every estrus from April to June, Qiqi is always "fidgeting, often hitting the pool wall with his body."
Endocrine disorders complicated with hepatitis and diabetes. Its liver damage leads to hyperlipidemia and hyperglycemia. GPT index is as high as 1500 unit, which is 150 times of normal value; The triglyceride index is as high as 1, 1000 unit, which is 100 times of the normal value; The glycemic index is as high as 900 units, which is 9 times the normal value. Only after some treatment by Chinese and foreign experts can we turn the corner. 1997 spring, it started a short hunger strike again, and experts such as Zhao Qing had to feed it with fish paste.
At 6 o'clock in the morning of July 14, 2002, researchers from the Institute of Aquatic Sciences of Chinese Academy of Sciences visited the Baiji Dolphin Museum of the Institute of Aquatic Sciences of Chinese Academy of Sciences as usual and saw Qiqi swimming in the pool. There is nothing unusual. The work record of the previous day said: feed at night and eat normally. At 8 o'clock, when the staff walked into the "White Mansion" again, they found Qiqi lying motionless underwater. After some rescue, it failed to be saved, and the only artificially raised baiji in the world passed away. Qiqi was about 25 years old when he died, which was equivalent to 70 years old. After 22 and a half years of artificial breeding, Qiqi is the first artificially bred baiji in modern aquatic science, the most successful baiji in artificial breeding environment and the last artificially bred baiji in the world.
Interviewee: bq 527- Scholar II 10-6 18:25.
ice cream
23 years of baiji Qiqi
On the morning of July 14, 2002, Qiqi, the "treasure of the Yangtze River" who lived with us in the Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, died suddenly and peacefully. Qiqi has lived in Wuhan for nearly 23 years. In the past 23 years, the cetacean research in China has attracted worldwide attention from small to large, from point to surface. In the past 23 years, two generations of cetacean research experts in China have also grown up one after another. In the past 23 years, the world has paid more and more attention to the environment of Baiji dolphin and the Yangtze River, and the awareness of environmental protection has gradually increased. These developments and changes are inseparable from Qiqi's great contribution.
The arrival of Qiqi
1980 65438+1October 1 1, fishermen in Jiayu County, Hubei Province, found a baiji that had strayed into the shallow water when they were working near the mouth of Dongting Lake, so they blocked the exit of the shallow water with a fishing boat, then hooked it from the water with an iron hook and immediately reported it to the local fishery department. After receiving the report from the local fisheries department, researchers from the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences rushed there overnight and transported the dolphins back to the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan the next day. According to the measurement, the dolphin is 1.47 meters long and weighs 36.5 kilograms, and its estimated age is about 2 years old.
Treat Qiqi's injury
The fisherman's iron hook hooks the back of the dolphin's neck into two holes with a diameter of 4 cm and a depth of 8 cm, and the holes are connected. A week later, the wound was seriously infected and the dolphin was dying. After the treatment of integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine, especially the special "vest" and Yunnan Baiyao, after more than four months of treatment, the wound gradually healed and the injury gradually recovered.
Name Qiqi
After the dolphin recovered from injury, Professor Wu Xianwen, then director of the Institute of Aquatic Biology of Chinese Academy of Sciences, a famous ichthyologist and academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Professor Hubert Wu, then deputy director, named the baiji "Qiqi". Its significance has three aspects. One is that "odd" is homophonic with "odd" and "odd", which means strange; Second, "Qi" contains three parts of water, which means animals in water; Thirdly, "Qi" is homophonic with the word "fin" that called Baiji dolphin "Baiji dolphin" at that time.
Qiqi adapts to life in Wuhan.
After Qiqi came to the artificial environment, in addition to treating injuries, he should adapt to the artificial feeding environment as soon as possible and get used to eating artificially fed food. So first, cut off the tail of the palatable fish to reduce the swimming ability of the fish and facilitate the odd bite. Then, we insist on eating more meals a day, and regularly throw the fish in front of Qiqi, so that it will gradually understand that it is feeding and will not hurt it. In the artificial environment, Qiqi's food becomes single, leading to malnutrition. To this end, she tried to feed fruits, vegetables, pork, beef and fish steamed bread, but Qiqi ate nothing but freshwater fish. To this end, various nutritional drugs such as vitamins C and E, vitamin B complex, folic acid, etc. It was also put into the belly of the fish and later fed to Shi erkang.
Proper food intake is an important factor to ensure animal health. When Qiqi first arrived in the artificial environment, we put a lot of live fish in the culture pond for him to eat. After the food starts, feed it quantitatively. In order to explore the standard of food intake, the daily food intake is obtained from each meal, and then half of the average daily food intake is taken as the daily food intake standard. Through calculation, Qiqi's daily food intake is 10%- 1 1% of body weight. There are slight changes in different seasons, more in winter and less in summer. Because baiji relies on the thickness of subcutaneous fat to regulate its body temperature and keep it constant (about 36℃), it is necessary to feed the bottom fish with high nutritional value from September every year to increase its food intake. After beginning of spring, silver carp and bighead carp were used instead of being ashamed to reduce food intake.
Clean Qiqi's room regularly.
Baiji dolphins live in the Yangtze River, which is flowing water with relatively clean water quality. In the artificial environment, a large amount of excrement is discharged every day, and some pollutants on the ground will lead to the rapid deterioration of the water quality of aquaculture ponds. At first, Qiqi lived in a pool without water filtering equipment, so she had to change the water frequently and clean it regularly to keep the water relatively clean. Later, the new Baiji Dolphin Museum introduced advanced water treatment equipment, thus ensuring the good water quality of the Baiji Dolphin breeding pond. Nevertheless, in the past 23 years, it has become a firm job to clean Qiqi's room regularly, remove algae from the pool, and give Qiqi a regular physical examination. In Qiqi's health care work, it is not only effective to prevent diseases, but also provides a reliable basis for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases by insisting on prevention first, cleaning the dolphin pool regularly every month and conducting physical examination, preventing diseases in time and establishing complete files on water quality, meteorology, hydrology and feeding.
Qiqi spent the summer in Wuhan.
Wuhan is known as a stove, and the temperature can reach 40 degrees in summer. At first, Qiqi lived in an open-air cement pool with a depth of 3.5 meters, and there was no sunshade. The water temperature in the pool can reach more than 30 degrees. In order to make Qiqi spend the summer safely, a series of cooling measures have been explored. At first, it was not ideal, economical and safe to drag ice cubes into the pool by truck. Later, in the open air.