Human Absence, Animal Revelry
2020 was a magical year, and we all witnessed history.
This year, temperatures in Antarctica broke 20°C, Australian wildfires burned for four months, and widespread locust plagues appeared in Africa. Humans were 'quarantined' at home, and entire cities fell silent, leaving only deserted streets...
The human world became silent, but the animal world was bustling. Animals that had previously 'retired' began to 'appear'.
In January, Wuhan had just quieted down, and a wild boar was spotted running across the empty Yangtze River Bridge.
On February 25th, in Baoxing County, Ya'an, Sichuan, a confused little giant panda wandered onto the highway, leisurely strolling along.
On February 27th, 60 globally endangered black-faced spoonbills were discovered in the Hai Ling Great Wet Land in Yangjiang, Guangdong.
Black-faced spoonbills are the second most endangered waterfowl after the scarlet macaw, and there are less than 800 worldwide, listed as endangered in the Red List.
On March 17th, 34 critically endangered spoonbills were discovered in the Dianchi Lake National Nature Reserve in Zhaojian, Guangdong.
Spoonbills breed in the permafrost of northeastern Russia and overwinter in East Asian and Southeast Asian wetlands, and are among the rarest birds. Currently, there are approximately 210 to 228 pairs of breeding spoonbills, far fewer than pandas.
In addition to this, wild white dolphins appeared in the Long Island Comprehensive Test Zone in Shandong; gold eagles more precious than imperial cranes appeared in the Tongyu Old Harbor National Nature Reserve in Jilin. , and the snow leopard was first recorded in the Baihua Mountain Forest Park in the Bayinqurite Basin.
Without the hustle and bustle of traffic, and without the roar of crowds, these precious creatures finally appeared, regaining their own liveliness.
Nature 'locked' humans at home, and cute animals in China and abroad appeared one after another.
Venice, one of Europe's most popular tourist cities, was far from the beautiful image everyone imagined.
Instead of clear rivers, the water surface was constantly stirred up with mud and floating garbage, and the 'traffic jams' of gondolas were also in sight. The 'Adriatic Pearl' had long lost its former glory.
But in the days when humans were closed off, Venice, without ships, had a clear bottom surface, and many swans were seen frolicking on the water.
On human absence, even more spirits entered areas previously inaccessible to humans.
On deserted streets, wild boars dragged their families to the center of the town to visit and forage.
In Japan, where tourists were absent, the fierce Nara deer walked two kilometers to the city to take a shortcut and nibbled on citizens' potted plants.
Wild turkeys roamed in Boston's streets, and Canada geese slept on Seattle's roads; monkeys even occupied the squares in Luobu, Thailand...
Empty cities, animals declared: 'We're taking over.'
The reason why the Earth initiated an 'immune system' to lock humans at home was due to humans who mistakenly believed they were rulers.
In recent years, humans have become increasingly over-extended, expanding their activities and releasing massive amounts of carbon dioxide... leading to global warming, melting glaciers, and rising sea levels, destroying the habitats of animals.
Because of these 'escapes,' polar bears starved to death, penguins lost their homes, and a series of creatures were on the verge of extinction.
This magical opening to the year 2020 was nature's retaliation against humans. If we don't make changes and continue to cut down trees and destroy nature, 2020 is just the beginning.
From now on, let's learn to respect nature, and maybe it's not too late!
