How do swallows make people fondle them?

A few days ago, a friend asked me: What kind of animals are more likely to become extinct? I thought for a moment that in the past, bigger animals were more likely to become extinct, especially on land. But now, animals closer to humans are more likely to become extinct. After all, since humans became the animals at the top of the food chain, a large number of animals became extinct because of human direct and indirect activities.

The friend asked again: With the increasing number of human beings and the growing territory, which animals are far from human analogy? Yes, the range of human activities is getting wider and wider, and there are really not many animals that are too far away from people. This is not a good thing.

Of course, under the attack of humans, animals also have a way out. Either people's animal awareness and environmental awareness have improved, or they have been domesticated like cats, dogs and other animals, or they are as small as mosquitoes and mice and have strong reproductive ability, which cannot be destroyed, or they are loved like swallows.

So, as an ordinary bird, how can swallows be loved? Let's learn about the history of swallows and human beings.

Swallows dance with prehistoric humans.

Swallows are a big family. Broadly speaking, it is the general name of many birds in Spartinaceae and Swift Family, with more than 80 species, including Swift, House Swallow, Jin Yan, Swallow and so on. In a narrow sense, it actually refers to the domestic swallow under the domestic swallow.

Different swallows have different habitats and living habits. For example, swallows like to inhabit rocks and cliffs, while swift prefers to inhabit rock crevices, empty tree holes and other places. Our common domestic swallows are actually relatively "young" swallows, which are gradually formed after living beside people.

From the current archaeological point of view, archaeologists found the earliest evidence that swallows got along with prehistoric humans at the site of Peking Man (about 700,000 years ago-200,000 years ago), which means that swallows began to become neighbors with people at least 200,000 years ago.

It's just that Beijingers lived in caves at that time, and the arrival of swallows may be related to the fact that these swallows themselves lived on the rock wall. Human activities make some swallows try to get along with others.

This attempt is bold, because at that time, the main food source of human beings was gathering and hunting, and birds themselves were one of the prehistory human prey. However, their attempt succeeded, and the reasons for success may be related to three aspects:

First, swallows and people have the same routine, they are all active during the day and busy during the day. It's dark at night, and they rest and don't bother each other.

Secondly, judging from the habits of domestic swallows, domestic swallows do not excrete feces directly to the ground under the nest during the breeding period, but adults take out the feces and throw them away. This habit obviously won the favor of prehistoric people. After all, no one wants to sleep soundly, and shit falls from the sky.

Third, swallows don't quite conform to the prey characteristics of prehistoric humans. Although prehistoric humans ate birds, they were selective about them. Large size and large number are preferred, but the average body length of domestic swallows is only 15cm, and the average weight is only 18g, which is equivalent to the weight of 3 spoonfuls of salt we usually use. If we take it off, we will still count bones and feathers.

Therefore, it is more cost-effective to go to plants or roots to find a bug to catch a swallow weighing only 5 grams. In this way, the swallow began the human home.

Get along well for a long time.

Although human beings are constantly evolving and tools are constantly upgrading, the change of residence is very slow. According to archaeological evidence, about 1.8 million years ago, humans still lived in caves, and the earliest animal skin tent-mammoth skin tent appeared 1.8 million years ago.

Despite the huge tents, most people still live in caves. It was not until about 10000 years ago that humans really came to the plain and began to build houses with wood and mud bricks.

At this time, the swallow really moved from the cave to the new residence of human beings, but the long-term goodwill with the swallow was not enough for people to accept the swallow moving to a new home. At this time, another thing happened, that is agriculture. The earliest agricultural planting of mankind began about1.20 thousand years ago, and by about 8000 years ago, the crops planted were already diverse.

When people were working in farmland, they discovered another ability of swallows-controlling pests. The main food of swallows is all kinds of insects, many of which are the bane of crops. When there is no pesticide, people can only control pests by their own hands. At this time, a capable helper will naturally win the favor of mankind. Moreover, this kind of helper has been with human beings for more than 200 thousand years, which makes people even regard swallows as friends.

In addition, swallows have the habit of migration. Taking the north as an example, we can see that the swallow's time is only about half a year, and he can't see this "old friend" for the remaining half a year. This indifference is also the main reason why people's affection for swallows has gradually multiplied.

Swallows and human feelings are heating up again.

From agricultural cultivation to the constant domestication of animals by human ancestors, human life has become more and more stable. After entering ancient times, swallows began to appear frequently in some literature records. For example, the mysterious bird in Shan Hai Jing is a mythical creature with the swallow as its initial image.

Then, in ancient times, swallows were also called yuan birds. You know, in ancient times, "yuan" was usually the first meaning, such as the champion. The ancients called swallows yuan birds, which was already a high evaluation. Later, it was discovered that swallows always came in pairs. In the poet's pen, swallows became a symbol of love: the traveler was surprised by Shuang Yan and brought mud into this hall (Shuang Yan by Du Fu in Tang Dynasty).

Later, people found that swallows always built nests in the homes of some "rich people", such as "In the old society, Wang Xietang died and flew into the homes of ordinary people", so there was a saying that "swallows knew nothing", and people even regarded swallows building nests in their own homes as a symbol of wealth and happiness.

Of course, swallows don't know "wealth and poverty", just because they like to nest in a home environment that is convenient to get in and out and can shelter from the wind and rain. In the past, the poor people's houses were surrounded by walls, and there was no place for swallows to nest. However, the rich people not only had a wide courtyard, but also a luxurious gate, and there was a house under the eaves of the gate, which was very suitable for swallows to nest.

But in any case, the status of swallows in people's minds is gradually warming up, even to the point of being loved, which makes swallows once one of the most numerous birds under the "shelter" of human beings.

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Swallows have lived in peace with humans for at least 200 thousand years. They have been accepted by people because they don't disturb people, work and rest with people and pay attention to hygiene. After that, people found more and more advantages in getting along, which made people like swallows more and more, and finally swallows became people's favorite birds.

However, although people seldom hurt swallows, the number of swallows has obviously decreased compared with before, which has a lot to do with the widespread use of pesticides, resulting in nothing to catch swallows. At the same time, people's acceptance of swallows has also become lower, so swallows are gradually falling out of favor.