Wild animals in Africa often hurt people. Is it necessary to get rid of the locals?

Wang Fang, a young researcher at the School of Life Sciences of Fudan University, published an article on her official WeChat account, saying that "harassing wintering bats is the most outrageous thing at the moment". The article said that he was "surprised and uneasy" when he saw a news from the Shanghai wildlife protection management department.

News reports said that wildlife protectors had to drive away the wintering bats that residents saw around their homes to calm people's hearts. In his article, he said that bats in Shanghai are not chrysanthemum-headed bats, and killing bats may cause new disasters and artificially induce the spread and variation of the virus. I suggest you follow the advice of Shanghai wildlife protection and management department:

"The public suspects that bats live in their own homes. Under the premise of wearing masks and thick gloves (such as work gloves), they can be initially stroked and driven away. First check whether there are traces of bat entities or feces, urine, etc. In the ceiling, air conditioning and other holes that may communicate with the outside. If it is confirmed that there are no bats, you can block the holes or gaps that communicate with the outside world and disinfect the environment. If it is confirmed that living bats exist and may enter the living room environment, it is not recommended for citizens to catch or drive bats with their bare hands. They should first use noise (such as the knocking of metal objects) or irritating smells (such as radar, toilet water, wind oil, mosquito-repellent incense, etc. ) drive them away; If the above measures can't drive away the live bats, you can call the relevant departments for help. "

Wang Fang graduated from Peking University College of Life Sciences and is a postdoctoral researcher at the Smithsonian Institution and Michigan State University. His main research interests are wildlife population dynamics, interspecific relationships and adaptability. Recently, he and the research team of conservation biology of Fudan University started a team of citizen scientists, and set up 80 infrared trigger cameras in * * Green Forest Park, Binjiang Forest Park, Shanghai Botanical Garden, Shanghai Zoo, Minhang Sports Park, Xu Hong Community, Fudan University Campus, Shanghai Ocean University Campus, Nanhui Suburb, Pujiang Country Park, Gucun Park and other areas, and kept recording all the time without being watched, hoping to monitor our life inside.

After systematically tracking urban wildlife, Wang Fang discovered raccoons, a magical species (birds of a feather flock together, birds of a feather flock together), which exists in a large number of cities in the Yangtze River Delta. He found that raccoons have the ability to "transform" in cities. "There is a river next to a community in Qingpu, and raccoons will dive into the water and become superb swimmers; There are many hills and shrubs beside raccoon habitat in Jinshan District. Raccoons show amazing skills in digging, jumping and hunting frogs. In Fengxian and Nanhui, they will soon learn campus and community design and thrive in the cracks of the human world. "

In his view, we should not only understand the wild animals in the wilderness, but also understand the wild animals in the city, because "without understanding, everything loses its foundation." The newspaper interviewed Wang Fang and asked, "What kind of distance should humans keep from wild animals?" This topic was talked with him.

Q: What are the differences between people in different regions and cultures in grasping the distance between human beings and wild animals?

A: The relationship between people, wildlife and ecological environment has been changing with time and people's lifestyle. For example, in the United States, during the great immigration period, their use of natural resources was also very direct and intense. They mine everywhere, then pollute the water source, also polluted by heavy metals, and then cut down a lot of trees and kill wild animals.

The Appalachian Mountains are the most famous mountains on the east coast of the United States, which are full of vitality and exuberant plants. But 100 years ago, the Appalachian Mountains were cut down without any trees, and a large number of wild animals lost their habitat and died, or were directly hunted. Then there are many toxic towns, where water cannot be drunk and crops cannot be eaten.

So in the United States, they also have their own environmental movement and environmental reflection. For example, a very famous founder of environmental theory, we call him Mr. aldo leopold, the "father of ecological ethics", and he wrote a famous book called "Sha Xiang Yearbook".

This book is actually about the migration of geese, the growth of trees, the footprints of animals in heavy snow and so on. The place he wrote is Wisconsin, USA. So this is an environmental movement in the United States 100 years ago-during this period 100 years ago, people rediscovered the beauty of nature and rediscovered the lost nature.

The same thing actually happened in Europe. For example, 100 years ago, people used to think that animals were animals and could introduce species from America at will. They introduced American mink and American gray squirrel. They think that it is nothing more than introducing a new squirrel or ferret with larger size, which can produce better fur and make the forest more beautiful.

But what I didn't expect was that weasels and squirrels imported from the United States destroyed the European ecosystem, killed protozoa and brought ecological disasters. In fact, it was only in the last 30 or 40 years that they realized that there is a distance between people and ecosystems, and ecosystems need reasonable research and management. Therefore, they began to reprocess invasive species to help local species.

The king's map of the Appalachian Mountains on the east coast of the United States, which was completely cut down, has been restored today 100 years.

All these examples are about the relationship between people and wildlife in different environments and cultures. After a rough use and a process of introducing species by feeling to change the ecosystem, in the last thirty or forty years, people realized that the ecosystem is a very complex and subtle system, and people realized that the conflict between people and wild animals can only be solved through research, a lot of data and better management.

In fact, in China, this process is the same, and people are re-recognizing the close relationship between ecosystem and life.

Q: During the COVID-19 epidemic, many people on the Internet questioned why bats were not "extinct". Is this "extinction" necessary?

A: I think killing is necessary, but the first step in killing is to recognize what harm is.

For example, in the history of our development, sparrows were once considered harmful. However, it was later discovered that sparrow is a very important part of the ecosystem. It eats far more pests than it eats, and it is of great benefit to the spread of tree seeds, the growth of plants and even agriculture.

Except bats. Bats eat pests, bats pollinate, and bats also regulate the balance of the ecosystem. Without bats, our farmland would be reduced and our water would be polluted. People will get more diseases after pests flood in our city.

Bats, hedgehogs and civets are all important. They are not pests.

Therefore, identifying pests is a very complicated process, which requires a lot of data accumulation.

There are many alien invasive species in our country, all of which are pests, such as red-eared turtles and bullfrogs that have entered nature, pine caterpillars that kill conifers in large numbers, and Eupatorium adenophorum that grows everywhere in southwest China.

People have a lot of lessons and a little experience in dealing with pests and controlling them.

I think we can talk about the country of New Zealand. New Zealand is a very interesting country because it is an island country. Therefore, the ecosystem is relatively fragile and closed, and there are no carnivores in the evolution process. So when exotic species, such as ferrets and domestic cats run into the wilderness, it will bring a very serious blow to its ecosystem. And if bacteria and viruses invade outside, or plants invade, it will also change the landscape of the island's ecosystem.