Category: Nature

The Three Gorges Dam in Central China’s Hubei Province on Thursday is set to face the largest ever flood peak since it was built. The reservoir has been ready to confront the challenge by coordinating with dams at its upper stream to retain the flood water, said the Three Gorges Corp.

The latest hydrometeorological forecasts estimated the inflow flood peak of the Three Gorges project will reach 73,000 cubic meters per second at 8 am on Thursday, the largest volume since it was built in 2003.

To confront the flood peak, dams in the upstream of the Yangtze River – including Wudongde, Xiluodu and Xiangjiaba dams, also managed by the Three Gorges Corp – will work together under “elaborate deployment and operation” to jointly retain the flood, the Three Gorges Corp said in a statement it sent to the Global Times on Wednesday.

The dams will sufficiently exert the flood defense function of a cascade reservoir within the basin, and are expected to ease the flood defense pressure for Southwest China’s Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality, as well as the Three Gorges project, according to the statement.

It is estimated the inflow water peak will be cut down to 68,000 cubic meters per second from 70,000, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the discharge flow of the Three Gorges project will increase to 46,000 cubic meters per second from 42,000 under the demand of the Changjiang Water Resources Commission under the Ministry of Water Resources.

On Saturday, the Three Gorges Dam withstood the No.4 flood of the Yangtze River of the year, which had an inflow of 62,000 cubic meters per second.

Two days after, the No.5 flood occurred along the upstream of the Yangtze River.

Several branches of the upstream of the Yangtze River saw record flood peaks due to constant heavy rainfall. 

156 male Tibetan antelopes in total in Mayi Snow Mountain玛依雪山 in Qiangtang Nature Reserve羌塘自然保护区, the ones with big body and long horns were adult male Tibetan antelopes, while the ones with smaller body and short horns were sub-adult male Tibetan antelopes that were born last year. They stood in the water, shaking their bodies and tails. This bathing behavior of the Tibetan antelope in the water actually cools down and removes parasites. In summer, there is a big temperature difference between day and night on the plateau, although the thick fur of the Tibetan antelope can keep the cold away at night, but at noon, it will be very hot, so the Tibetan antelope will soak in the water to cool down; in addition, there are more mosquitoes and parasites in summer, so the Tibetan antelope soak in the water can clean some parasites on the body surface.

Sichuan Chengdu Hua Xi Insect Museum curator Zhao Li recently found a giant katydid 螽（音“中”）斯 with a body length of 8cm in Qingcheng Mountain 青城山, which is twice as big as the common katydids of Sichuan past, refreshing the record of Sichuan’s largest katydid.

　　”Its wings look very broad from the front and back, more like a leaf,” The katydid is the largest katydid in Sichuan, and the largest katydid in China is the giant leaf katydid 巨拟叶螽

from Xishuangbanna 西双版纳 , which can be more than 12.5cm in length.

　　Zhao Li introduced, this katydid belongs to the subfamily Pseudophyllinae of Arabidopsis katydids, belongs to the insectoid Insecta Orthoptera Orthoptera katydids Tettigoniidae. currently the world records 19 families 260 genera (subgenera) 998 species (subspecies), mainly distributed in the neotropics, paleotropics and subtropics. “A total of 16 genera and 39 species (subspecies) have been recorded in the Chinese subfamily Orthoptera Tettigoniidae.” “All the katydids found in the Sichuan region in the past were small and medium-sized species, the largest being the large katydid that is no more than 7cm in length,” Zhao Li said, “This mountain subleaf katydid has a very fat abdomen, while the abdomen volume of the large katydid with a length of 7cm is only a fraction of its size.” Compared to the carnivorous katydids, the mountain subleaf katydid is a ‘gentle giant’ that is vegetarian and catches insects.” Zhao Li said that when reared so far, it has been found that it not only feeds on the leaves of the Nanmu tree 楠木树 , but also the leaves of plants in the chitin 壳斗科 family.

　　Nocturnal katydids lay eggs on tree trunks.

　　”This mountain subleaf katydid is nocturnal and hides in the canopy layer during the day and only goes to the trunk at night to lay its eggs, so its presence is rarely known.” When Zhao Li found it, it was on the trunk of a Nanmu tree , using a spawner to burrow into the bark to lay its eggs.

　　Nanmu is a very tall tree, reaching up to more than 30 meters in height and up to 1 meter in diameter at breast height. “Because this katydid mimics the leaves of the Nanmu tree, it hides in the tree during the day and won’t be noticed.”

　　Zhao Li lamented that the giant katydid has not been found because it is too rare, “I’ve seen its limbs before in Jiulonggou九龙沟 and Xiling Snow Mountain 西岭雪山 . All of them are wings or heads left over from being eaten by birds.”

　　It is known that katydids lay their eggs on the shallow surface of the soil and some larvae die if they can’t get out of the soil, so will the mountain leaf katydid survive if it lays its eggs in the bark of a tree?

　　”It has a very specific way of laying its eggs and I think the purpose of laying its eggs in the bark is to keep them moist. Also the bark effectively protects its eggs from being damaged by other things.” Zhao Li said the insects have a low survival rate, so they use a strategy of laying large numbers of eggs. “Most katydids have a short lifespan, hatching in the spring and dying at the end of October. However, with artificial warmth, some species of katydids can live until the following spring.”

月亮何时最圆？常会听到的一种说法是“十五的月亮十六圆”，但是在庚子鼠年的农历六月里，十五的月亮却是“十四圆”，最圆时刻出现在8月3日23时59分。天文专家表示，“十五的月亮十四圆”这种现象比较罕见。21世纪这100年中，这种情况仅会出现6次。

　　中国天文学会会员、天津市天文学会理事史志成介绍说，每逢农历初一，我们看不到月亮，叫“新月”，也叫“朔”；到了农历十五左右，我们可以看到圆圆的月亮，称为“满月”，也叫“望”。

　　根据农历历法规定，“朔”所在这一天为每月初一。但同是初一，“朔”可能发生在凌晨，或者上午、下午，也可能发生在晚上，而且每个朔望月本身也有长有短。这样，月亮最圆时刻的“望”最早可发生在农历十四的晚上，最迟可出现在农历十七的早上。但由于“朔”一定在农历的每月初一，“朔”之后平均起来要再经过14天18小时22分才是“望”，所以月亮最圆时刻的“望”以出现在农历十五、十六这两天居多，其中又以出现在农历十六为最多。

　　在21世纪的这100年中，“满月”出现在农历的十七、十六、十五和十四的次数统计结果显示，出现“满月”的次数共1241次。其中，出现次数最多的是农历十六，有579次；其次是农历十五，有468次；再次是农历十七，有188次；次数最少的是农历十四，仅有6次。

For the first time, the serow – China’s level II important protection animal – was captured by infrared surveillance camera in Lishui, East China’s Zhejiang Province.