For every pet otter, there are four or five dead companions

Not long ago, Guokr held a Youth Forum with the theme of urban animals , and invited four guests to tell their stories about urban animals. We will review the guests' sharing content in the form of video + pictures and texts.

Today is the third issue, from the otter expert @韩雪松 of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) (due to limited space, the content shared has been slightly deleted):

Take a look at the highlights

Hello everyone, the topic I will share today is "Otter's Recovery on the Brink of Humanity".

Which one is the otter?

Let me test you first. Can you tell which one is an otter in the following 5 pictures?

From left to right, the first one is the North American mink , which was introduced to China in the 1970s and 1980s for breeding and fur coats, but later escaped and is now more common in the wild in China. The second one is the muskrat , which was also introduced in China as a fur animal and escaped, and is more common in the wild. The third one is the otter . The fourth one is the capybara , a rodent that is often seen in videos eating grass comfortably. The fifth one is the American beaver . There is a kind of beaver in China called the Mengxin beaver, which is found in Xinjiang and looks particularly strong.

What exactly are we talking about otters?

Otter is a general term for 13 species of animals in the subfamily Lutrainae of the family Mustelidae in the order Carnivora. There are three species in China, one of which is the Eurasian otter, which is widely distributed . It may be one of the most widely distributed animals in the Northern Hemisphere, from North Africa to East Asia along the Eurasian continent.

Eurasian otter

The second type is the Asian small-clawed otter , which is very cute. You will often see it being kept in short videos, but I reiterate that it cannot be kept . Most of the Asian small-clawed otters that are kept are smuggled to Japan from Indonesia and other Southeast Asian regions. If a small otter is sold in the market, it means that four or five small-clawed otters may have died during the capture and transportation process. So, don't keep otters!

Asian small-clawed otter

The third type is the river otter , which is very large and hunts large fish in groups. People's main impression of it may come from Singapore. However, the three types of otters mentioned above are all otters that we have or have had in China .

Cotton otter

How did the common otter get forgotten?

More than 2,000 years ago, the Book of Rites wrote that "the east wind thaws the ice, hibernating insects begin to stir, fish come out of the ice, and otters offer fish as sacrifices." The Book of the Later Zhou records that "on the day of Rain Water, otters offer fish as sacrifices, and five days later, wild geese come, and five days later, grass and trees begin to sprout." The Wenzi: Shangren also wrote that "before otters offer fish as sacrifices, nets and traps cannot be put into the water," which means that we cannot go fishing until otters offer fish as sacrifices. In spring, the ancients would observe that otters would place fish neatly on the river bank, and they believed that only after this phenomenon occurred could spring come and we could go into the water to catch fish.

What does this reflect? There are a lot of otters . If it were an uncommon thing, people would not use it as a phenological phenomenon.

Dassai sake

The Yi Zhou Shu also wrote that "If otters do not offer fish as sacrifices, there will be many thieves in the country." I thought it was a bit mysterious when I first read it, but later I thought it actually made sense. If otters do not offer fish as sacrifices, it means that spring may come late, so farming will be late and the harvest will be poor, which will make it easier for thieves to run rampant.

Otters were so common before, and ancient people thought that otters would take out fish to offer to the gods, and that they were grateful, cute and sensible little animals. But how did we forget about them?

I wrote a book about otters, which was just published, called " China's Otters: Recovery on the Brink of Humanity ". I summarized the patterns of population changes in the history of otters and told you how otters disappeared from our lives and how they slowly came back.

Before the 17th century

Nature worship and primitive use in local communities

Ancient people may worship nature if they find something new. Otters are cute, so they are used as tribal totems. Some ethnic minority areas, such as the Yi people, have a month called Otter Month. Many tribes also use otter as their surname, and people with this surname will not harm otters, etc.

On the other hand, there is the original use . I summarize it in three points:

1. Medicine

I searched the word "otter" in online medical books and found that different parts of otters have different uses, basically everything from bones, flesh and skin to the heart, liver, kidneys and gallbladder can be used as medicine . Some are even close to witchcraft, such as laying an otter skin under a pregnant woman and letting her sleep with it as a pillow, so that she will have a normal birth in the future, because otter skin is very slippery.

Otter medicinal parts

2. Raise otters to catch fish

Around 2016, this phenomenon still occurred in Jiangyou and Dazhou, Sichuan. At that time, I also saw people posting blogs and photos. In fact, the earliest record probably came from the Tang Dynasty, and by the Ming Dynasty, it had become very large-scale. At that time, it was recorded that this was a special type of fishery , and dozens of kilograms of fish could be caught every day. This is also the original use of otters.

"At the end of the Yuanhe period, there was a man in Xunxiang County, Junzhou, who was seventy years old. He raised more than ten otters and made a living by fishing, releasing them every other day." - "Youyang Zazu"

3. Fur

Especially in ethnic minority areas, in the past, it was very cold, and ordinary cotton cloth was not easy to obtain, and it was not very warm, so they would wear clothes made of otter skin . This is quite interesting. Let's recall those costume dramas, especially in the Han Dynasty, the Han people mainly wore clothes made of cotton, linen and silk. In the eyes of people at that time, wearing these animal furs was very barbaric and uncivilized. But now, if you say someone is wearing a mink coat, some people still think it's fancy.

In history, we have had regimes established by ethnic minorities such as the Liao and Jin. Under these regimes, there were some changes and integrations in the clothing of ethnic minorities and people in Han areas .

At this time, ordinary people no longer thought that wearing fur was a barbaric act. Instead, the rulers regarded precious animal fur as a symbol of class. Only we can wear it . You Han people, or people of other ethnic groups, no matter how rich you are, cannot wear this thing. At this time, the seed of wanting fur was planted in everyone's heart.

"The Western Rong people prefer otter skins to make collar ornaments for fur clothes" - "The Exploitation of the Works of Nature"

But starting from Kangxi, he was different from the previous rulers of ethnic minorities who established regimes. He began to reward precious animal furs to trusted ministers and people with military merits, etc. Then, after the great voyages at that time, potatoes and other things were introduced to China from South America, leading to rapid population growth and expansion.

So on the one hand, people wanted animal fur , and Kangxi's approach made animal fur a symbol of wealth rather than just a symbol of class, which means that if you have money, you can buy it and wear it . Coupled with the rapid population expansion, the demand for animal fur is very high. This naturally gave rise to trade .

"When I was young, I saw scholars only wearing fur coats, but now women and children in the streets all wear fur coats."

——"Chaolin Bi Tan"

The previous primitive use, although varied, posed no threat to the wild, and the demand for fur was limited. But things changed after the advent of commerce, when people could capture animals and sell their fur in exchange for food . The market was infinitely large in the context of globalization, so this was the second stage, which was capture and hunting under international trade.

17th century to the end of the 20th century

Capture and hunting under international trade

One species that I just didn't mention is the sea otter. Sea otter fur has millions of hairs per square inch . What does that mean? A normal human head has about 100,000 to 120,000 hairs. Otter fur has about 70,000 to 80,000 hairs per square centimeter. The dense animal fur makes people think, this stuff is great.

In 1685, the Qing Dynasty established a coast in Guangzhou and began to trade with European countries. Around the same time, trade with Russia began in Kyakhta. The largest commodity was the cross-border fur trade , among which the most valuable was sea otter skin.

Between 1779 and 1818, the Russian-American Company obtained no fewer than 80,271 sea otters and 1,493,626 seals from Alaska and other Russian Americas.

Between 1792 and 1817, the United States sold an average of about 14,000 sea otter skins to China each year. In 1802, American ships alone imported 45,427 sea otter skins.

The basic operation was that merchant ships departed from Boston Harbor, loaded with knives and other small items, and then sailed along the coast of America to California to exchange furs with local natives. When they were full of furs, the value of the goods had increased countless times. They then loaded up with these furs and sailed to Guangzhou Port in China, where they sold the furs at a high price, bought tea and silk, and sailed back to Boston. One trip could make several trips' worth of money.

International trade in sea otter skins

It wasn't until 1911 that Russia, Japan, Britain, and the United States signed a convention to protect fur-bearing animals, which stipulated a suspension of all hunting of sea otters . At this time, the global population of sea otters, which once numbered in the hundreds of thousands, was reduced to only 1,000 to 2,000.

On the other hand, with the signing of a series of unequal treaties such as the Treaty of Nanjing, the Treaty of Tianjin, and the Treaty of Beijing, foreign capital invaded China on a large scale, Chinese folk handicrafts and commerce went bankrupt one after another, the social situation was turbulent, and consumer purchasing power declined.

Subsequently, the fur import-processing-sales industry chain that had been formed in China over hundreds of years was transformed locally. A large number of craftsmen and businessmen who originally made a living from fur began to purchase fur from China, sell it abroad after fine processing , and around 1860, they established an industry chain and external market for exporting fur to Western countries.

"Produce More and Better Livestock Products to Support National Construction" wrote: "Wild animal fur is generally very valuable and is also very valuable when exported. For example, exporting more than 2,000 yellow wolf skins can be exchanged for a combine harvester, a dozen otter skins can be exchanged for a ton of steel , and more than 80 gray squirrel skins can be exchanged for a ton of fertilizer powder."

The poster encouraged people to buy otter and other animal furs.

After this wave of national otters passed, otter populations in many places collapsed. The collapse of local populations probably occurred in the 1980s and 1990s, and there have been very few records of otters since then.

Since the late 20th century

The awakening of conservation awareness and the recovery of natural populations

The third stage is the awakening of conservation awareness and the recovery of natural populations. After the 18th CPC National Congress, the country has invested a lot of effort and energy in nature conservation, including the protection and restoration of natural bases, as well as the reconstruction and protection of natural populations . The implementation of policies such as the Yellow River and Yangtze River protection has greatly improved the water quality in these areas. The 10-year fishing ban in the Yangtze River is accompanied by local reproduction and release.

On the one hand, these measures have solved the problem of water quality in the otters' living environment , because it was previously polluted by heavy industry and agriculture. On the other hand , the increase in fish stocks and the protection of fish resources have provided a food source for otters . If you search for news about otters, you will find that otters have suddenly appeared in many places, especially since 2018, when there have been a lot of news reports.

What might the return of otters mean? Otters are the top predators in riparian ecosystems , controlling the number of fish and are essential to the health of a riparian ecosystem. On the other hand, otters are a flagship species for coastal ecosystem conservation .

Flagship species is a concept in conservation biology, referring to species that can attract public attention. Flagship species can not only make these species better protected, but also protect those species with less influence. The picture shows the news of the discovery of otters.

When our ancestors chose where to live, they would choose places with abundant water or convenient transportation. So if you look at the Yangtze River Basin and the Yellow River Basin, you will see that many cities are located at the intersection where tributaries converge into the main stream . If otters want to migrate to other places, or if otters in the main stream want to return to the tributaries, will they inevitably pass through these cities?

This is indeed the case. I took these photos in Yushu. Otters are openly active in the city, catching fish in the city, looking very comfortable.

Otters in Yushu

When this kind of scene appears in the city, will it change people’s attitude towards wild animals?

When I was at the Shanshui Nature Conservation Center, citizens would worry about sharing the lawn with their children and pets. What if wild animals bite their children? What if they spread diseases to their children and pets? This is actually because they do not have enough knowledge about carnivores. If "carnivores" themselves are not as scary as they sound, will it change your perception of the entire group?

Carnivores have always existed in our lives , but they are too small for people to pay much attention to. If you take a walk in any alley in the second ring road of Beijing after 10 pm, you will most likely encounter a yellow weasel.

Moreover, most carnivores are afraid of humans. If they encounter humans, they will definitely run away if they can. They will only attack humans if they feel their lives are threatened and cannot escape. So I think one thing we should educate everyone on is how we can avoid making animals feel that we are a threat . In places like Europe and North America where bears are found, it is not allowed to put trash cans outdoors, or to have overnight food in trash cans - the smell of food will attract bears. So the work of education falls on humans, and we cannot educate animals .

Otters in Yushu

I wonder if otters can bridge the gap between wild animals and humans in China? The conclusion is simple: tomorrow depends on you and me .

But you can’t keep otters!

Shared by: Han Xuesong

Arrangement: small towel, Mai Mai

Title image source: Han Xuesong

This article comes from GuokrNature (ID: GuokrNature)

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