A dolphin, a duck, a fern … On May 28th, the theme activity of "One River Clear Water Chung Shan Man" came to Zhenjiang Yangtze River Dolphin Provincial Nature Reserve, Jiangsu Province. In recent years, pregnant finless porpoises, finless porpoises preying on swordfish, green-headed diving duck and water fern have been searched frequently, which has become an ecological business card in Zhenjiang.
Photo courtesy of the management office of Zhenjiang Yangtze finless porpoise provincial nature reserve in January 2024.
Photo courtesy of the management office of Zhenjiang Yangtze finless porpoise provincial nature reserve in September 2023.
Walking along the tree-lined path into the reserve, the sun shines on the river surface and the dazzling natural landscape is panoramic.
"The finless porpoise, out of the Yangtze River, looks like a dolphin, black, haunts the waves, and its nose is quiet. When it comes out, there will be a strong wind, which the natives will wait for." The vivid scenes of finless porpoises are recorded in the Zhi Shun Zhen Jiang Zhi.
However, due to the loss of habitat, the living water environment has been polluted and destroyed, and the finless porpoise has been listed as a species in imminent danger and in urgent need of protection, and has been listed as a national first-class protected wild animal.
Warning display board of Yangtze dolphin provincial nature reserve in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province
In 2002, Zhenjiang City built Zhenjiang Yangtze finless porpoise provincial nature reserve, which took on the responsibility of guarding the "smiling angel" finless porpoise in Zhenjiang section of the Yangtze River, one of the waters where finless porpoises are frequently active, and it is also a rare "shelter" for the finless porpoises in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River with busy shipping.
Green mountains and white clouds, clear water ripples. More than 7,000 mu of river beach wetland has completely withdrawn from agricultural planting and breeding activities, and adhered to the ecological restoration policy of giving priority to natural restoration, and the ecological environment of river beach wetland has been significantly improved.
Vivid scenes such as mother finless porpoises, finless porpoises giving birth and finless porpoises eating swordfish have been recorded in the reserve. In the picture, finless porpoises sometimes jump out of the water and sometimes play in the water, attracting viewers to call "cute".
Photo courtesy of the Yangtze finless porpoise Zhenjiang Yangtze finless porpoise provincial nature reserve management office in 2024
Wang Zhaogen, deputy director and senior engineer of the nature reserve management office, told the reporter of Modern Express that while restoring the natural original ecological appearance, the nature reserve also used the latest technology to configure and improve the supporting management and protection facilities, such as patrol boats, patrol cars, 5G drones to automatically inspect the hangar, AI intelligent identification camera, water quality and environmental monitoring system, Yangtze finless porpoise rescue base, etc., and built a three-dimensional monitoring network for water, land and air.
Wang Zhaogen, Deputy Director and Senior Engineer of Protected Area Management Office, introduced the situation.
The latest ecological scientific investigation results show that 946 species of wild animals and plants have been found in the reserve, including 4 species of national first-class protected wild animals and 37 species of national second-class protected wild animals and plants. There are 26 Yangtze finless porpoises in the nature reserve, accounting for 21.3% of the total number of Yangtze finless porpoises in Jiangsu section of the Yangtze River. There are 34 finless porpoises in Zhenjiang section of the Yangtze River, accounting for 27.9% of the total number of finless porpoises in Jiangsu section of the Yangtze River.
It is understood that in November 2023, Zhenjiang Yangtze Dolphin Provincial Nature Reserve was awarded the "China Biosphere Reserve Network (CBRN) Membership Certificate", becoming the only nature reserve in Jiangsu Province to join CBRN in 2023. It has become an important window for people to learn about finless porpoises.
Reporter Ding Mengsha/Wen Xuyang/photo of the joint report group of "One River Clear Water Chung Shan Man" network theme activities
For more details, please pay attention to the event official website: https://jsnews.jschina.com.cn/zt2024/yjqswcs/.
(This project is supported by China Positive Energy Network Communication Special Fund of China Internet Development Foundation)