What benefits do birds bring to humans?

Birds are relatively common animals in our lives, and there are many kinds of birds. Generally speaking, all birds are directly or indirectly beneficial to humans. People usually say that dogs are more loyal friends of humans. In fact, the same is true for birds. If birds are well protected, it will not only be good for human health, but also provide people with better fresh air to breathe.

The relationship between birds and humans is complex and varies according to time, place and specific conditions. For example, birds that specialize in eliminating agricultural and forestry pests are of course beneficial birds, but they also eat beneficial insects. Moreover, strictly speaking, to determine the benefits brought by birds, it is not enough to just know how many pests they eat in a day. It is also necessary to find out whether the feeding of these birds actually suppresses the number of pests in nature. Some birds can kill a large number of pests during the spring and summer breeding period, but they destroy crops during the spring sowing and autumn harvest seasons, and mainly feed on weed seeds in the fields in winter. Therefore, "benefit" and "harm" are relative, and there are no absolutely beneficial birds or absolutely harmful birds. Despite these complex issues, after in-depth research by ornithologists, it is unanimously agreed that among the birds alive today, with a few exceptions, all are beneficial or have only minor benefits and harms, and beneficial birds account for the vast majority.

The contributions of birds to humans can be summarized as follows:

Wild birds are the source of poultry.

There is no need to explain the importance of poultry in people's lives. There are more than 60 breeds of domestic chickens in the world, which provide us with high-quality meat, eggs and down. Today's poultry are all selected, domesticated and bred from wild birds by our ancestors after going through untold hardships, and people are still working hard to explore the domestication of wild birds. In addition to the familiar domestic chickens that are domesticated from jungle fowl (Gallus gallus), domestic ducks are domesticated from mallards (Anas Platyrhynchos), spot-billed ducks (Anas Poecilorhyncha) and white-browed ducks (Cairna moschata), domestic geese are domesticated from swan geese (Anser cygnoides), greylag geese (Anser anser) and Egyptian geese (Alopochen aegrptiacus), domestic pigeons are domesticated from rock pigeons (Columba livia), and cormorants (ospreys) are domesticated from wild cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo), there are many other birds that have gradually become important objects of the poultry industry. Examples include the quail (Coturnix coturnix), the ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) and the ostrich (Struthio camelus).

Wild birds provide humans with large amounts of meat, eggs, down and manure.

Wild poultry has tender meat, rich nutrition and delicious taste. In addition, it is much less likely to be polluted by industries such as cities than poultry. Therefore, it has become a delicacy that people compete to choose and is much more expensive than poultry. my country has a great variety of hunting birds, many of which are renowned. For example, the hazel grouse, a specialty of the Greater Khingan Range and Changbai Mountain, was once a tribute to successive dynasties and was called "flying dragon."

The amount of raw materials such as down and decorative feathers provided by birds to people every year, as well as the various light industrial products, toys, and arts and crafts made from them, are innumerable. Their value is sometimes difficult to estimate. Take the decorative feathers of the American egret (Casmerodius albus) as an example. At the beginning of this century, it was popular in Western Europe to put a few beautiful feathers on women's hats. The decorative feathers of the American egret were the most valuable. In 1902, more than 1,300 kilograms of them were sold in the London market alone. According to the price at that time, the weight was more expensive than gold.

Guano contains a large amount of nitrogen and phosphorus compounds and is an excellent organic fertilizer. Seabirds that gather along the coast and on islands, such as cormorants, albatrosses, and gulls, are the main providers of guano. Every year, South America and Africa provide 300,000 metric tons of guano, with Peru producing the highest amount. The guano deposited on the islands there over the ages is 55 meters thick. Factories began to be built in the 19th century to develop the mineral. Although the development has been completed so far, the guano accumulated each year is still 8 centimeters thick. Many islands in my country's Xisha Islands are almost entirely covered with guano, and are resources with great development potential.

The medicinal and ornamental value of wild birds is also well known. The Compendium of Materia Medica records the medical uses of dozens of bird species. Of course, caution must be taken when using it for medicinal purposes.

When evaluating the benefits of birds, people tend to focus on direct benefits and the more obvious indirect benefits. In fact, considering the entire ecosystem, because birds are of many species, large in number, and widely distributed, and are at different nutritional levels of the ecological cone, the relationship in the food chain among them is extremely complex, and they occupy an important position in energy flow. Even species that appear to have no obvious benefits or are even harmful can, if hunted excessively, disrupt the natural balance of the ecosystem through the food chain, leading to serious consequences.