first time in 8 years! japan plans to return 16 crested ibises to china by the end of october
2024-10-06
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according to japan's kyodo news agency on october 6, after an agreement between china and japan, 16 crested ibises born in sado city, niigata prefecture are scheduled to be returned to beijing, china, at the end of october.
according to the memorandum between china and japan, half of the offspring of the crested ibis provided by china must be returned, but this was previously stalled due to the impact of the new coronavirus epidemic and avian influenza. if this happens, it will be the first return since 2016.
kyodo news also reported that there are many issues between china and japan, and some people hope that returning the crested ibis will promote academic exchanges between the two countries.
according to sources, the crested ibises planned to be returned to china were born at the sado crested ibis conservation center between 2016 and 2022. there are 7 males and 9 females. they will be flown to china after medical examinations and may live in the beijing zoo in the future.
the crested ibis return operation began in march 2002. as of march 2016, a total of 7 batches of 47 crested ibises had returned to china from japan.
in 1998, the japanese crested ibis was determined to be an "extinct in the wild" species, with only one remaining on sado island in japan. in january 1999, "yang yang" and his companion "youyou" from yang county, shaanxi province came to sado island as the first pair of crested ibises presented to japan by china. in may 1999, their child "youyou" was born. this is the first time in japan that crested ibis chicks have been successfully hatched artificially. in order to ensure genetic diversity, china subsequently donated crested ibises to japan several times. the number of japanese crested ibises gradually increased and returned to nature. in 2019, the japanese ministry of environment also downgraded the crested ibis from "extinct in the wild" to "endangered category 1a". the ministry of the environment of japan announced on november 24, 2023 that the female crested ibis "yang yang" kept at the sado crested ibis conservation center in niigata prefecture passed away on the morning of the 23rd. the 27-year-old was equivalent to an eighty-year-old human.
editor: liu qingyang
editor: fan yanfei
