Editor's note:

  Every Chinese who works hard to live is the most beautiful struggler.

It is precisely because of hundreds of millions of strugglers that China is today.

For ten years, pay tribute to every struggle of you.

Let us work together to forge ahead in the new era, and work hard towards the future.

  China News Service, Huzhou, April 5 (Reporter Shi Zinan) During the Qingming holiday, the weather was fine.

In the "China Alligator Village" located at the junction of Si'an and Lincheng towns in the northwest of Changxing County, Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province, thousands of Chinese alligators have come out of their burrows.

Some probed slightly in the water, looking around vigilantly, while others lay lazily on the shore, enjoying the sunshine.

  Chinese alligator is a rare species unique to China. It is a national first-class protected wild animal and one of the smallest crocodile species in the world. It has a history of more than 200 million years. It is known as a "living fossil" because it lived in the same period as dinosaurs. .

  When it was endangered, in order to expand the wild population, in 1979, the villagers of Yinjiabian, Si'an Town, spontaneously sent 11 Chinese alligators into the "Shangbamu" pond, protected them with bamboo fences, and established Yinjiabian Village. Grade Alligator Reserve.

Adult Chinese alligator released into the wild (data map) Photo courtesy of Chen Xianzhong

  After more than 40 years of development, the village-level protected area has been upgraded to a provincial-level protected area, and the number of Chinese alligators has increased from 11 to 8,406.

  "From the initial spontaneity and rescue protection, to the prosperity of the Chinese alligator family and the establishment of 'Chinese Alligator Village', the villagers of Yinjiabian Village have contributed greatly." Li Hui, director of the management office of Changxing Alligator Reserve, introduced that under difficult circumstances , the villagers tried their best to feed alligators.

  It was not until 1984 that the generation of the Chinese alligator was born.

  "In order to maintain the natural wildness and genetic traits of the Chinese alligator, the reserve allows the Chinese alligator to breed naturally by simulating the natural ecological environment." Li Hui said that for more than 40 years, the Chinese alligator has maintained a natural pattern of predation, mating, spawning, hatching and overwintering. Wild lifestyle.

  Following the arrival of the second and third generations in 1997 and 2006, a certain number of Chinese alligators are naturally bred every year in the reserve.

  In 2012, the reserve launched the second phase of the wild release project. In 10 years, 1,230 Chinese alligators from the core population were released, all of which were injected with electronic chips for individual identification information and field tracking and observation.

  "When a certain number of Chinese alligators are protected, too much manual intervention will lead to insufficient wildness of Chinese alligators, and it is difficult to maintain their species genes." Li Hui said bluntly that the wild release project is also to verify that the bred Chinese alligators can "self-reliance" in the wild.

  In order to achieve the sustainable development of wild animals, the reserve has also cooperated with Zhejiang University to carry out a series of research work on Chinese alligators; and has developed and constructed a set of environmental monitoring and behavioral perception for Chinese alligators by using Internet of Things, cloud computing, mobile Internet technologies and other means. system.

  At present, as the second largest Chinese alligator nature reserve in China, "China Alligator Village" covers an area of ​​132.98 hectares and consists of a natural breeding mother and child lake for alligators, a crocodile series pool, a crocodile specimen showroom, and a Chinese alligator resort.

  "March-May and September-November are the peak tourist seasons in the reserve, and it receives about 600,000 tourists every year." Zhou Hui, deputy general manager of Zhejiang Alligator Scenic Spot Management Co., Ltd., introduced that the reserve will also launch research courses in 2020. Nearly 100 research activities have been carried out.

Tourists visit Chinese alligators (data map) Photo courtesy of Zhou Hui

  For example, a visit to the Chinese Alligator Science Museum allows tourists and students to have a general understanding of the history and development of the Chinese alligator; the human and crocodile swim project, you can take a boat into the living world of the Chinese alligator and observe its living environment up close...

  "We are striving to build the 'Chinese Alligator Village' into a 'the world's rare and endangered species habitat and ecological education demonstration site' that integrates functions such as science education, natural experience, and outdoor development, so as to play a further role in science popularization." Zhou Hui said.

  More than 40 years of wind and rain.

At present, "China Alligator Village" is still walking on the road of protecting and popularizing Chinese alligators with a sense of mission passed down from generation to generation.

China's 100 million-year-old "living fossil" will continue to write a new chapter (End)