「Life & Activities」鸳鸯-2 / Mandarin Duck #2 20190518

In late March this year, my mother and I saw a large number of mandarin ducks paddling leisurely on the West Lake near Zhongshan Park. Most of them come in pairs, which is probably why mandarin ducks are embroidered on the sheets as blessing during traditional Chinese weddings.

Like many animals in nature, male mandarin ducks have multi-colored feathers, which gives them an advantage when it comes to competing for mates. After the breeding season, the males shed their bright plumage and have no difference with female ones. By the way, the baby mandarin ducks are completely raised by the females.

In addition to mandarin ducks, there are also very other birds on the West Lake. One of them is called the Mallard, and I wrote an article The Mallard in the West Lake to introduce the difference between mandarin ducks as well as the mallards briefly.

When I was a child, I remembered that we could not see mandarin ducks in the West Lake. I searched on the internet and found out that wild mandarin ducks generally come to Hangzhou in Autumn for winter, and then fly back to the north the next year's April to breed.

The mandarin ducks were first found breeding in the West Lake area in 2005, while it ended up with a tragedy. In 2007, it was found that mandarin ducks chose to breed in the West Lake again. This time, the government, society organizations and even the security team joined hands to protect the baby mandarin ducks until they could fly by themselves.

In the press conference, we proudly announced that the West Lake has been suitable for wild mandarin duck breeding!

Nowadays, the West Lake has become "Mandarin Duck's Lake", and the Gu Mountain has become a "Mandarin Duck's Valley".

With the enhancement of animal protection consciousness, the citizens and tourists are able to get along with wild animals more harmoniously. If you're walking in Zhongshan Park, you may meet up with these fuzzy and adorable creatures easily :D

「中文部分」

大概是三四月份的时候，我和妈妈在北山路中山公园附近的湖域就曾经见过大批的鸳鸯悠闲地在湖面上划水。他们大多数是成双成对的，这可能也是中国传统婚礼中床单被套上要绣鸳鸯的原因吧。

正如自然界中很多动物那样，鸳鸯也是雄性的毛色更加鲜艳靓丽，这使得它们在竞争配偶这件事情上更有优势。在繁殖季节过去以后，雄性鸳鸯会褪去鲜艳的羽毛变得和雌性鸳鸯差不多。顺便一提，小鸳鸯完全由雌性鸳鸯抚养。

西湖水域中除了鸳鸯，还有长得非常类似的鸟类，我在西湖里的绿头鸭这篇文章中简单讲了两者的区别。

在我的印象中，小时候在西湖是看不到鸳鸯的。我查阅了一些资源，野生鸳鸯一般是秋天来到杭州过冬，然后第二年的四五月份飞回北方繁殖。西湖水域的工作人员于2005年首次发现野生鸳鸯留在这里繁殖，但由于人为的侵害妈妈和宝宝都遭遇不幸。

2007年的时候，有人发现鸳鸯再次选择在西湖繁殖下一代。这次，西湖水域管理委员会、园林部门、浙江野鸟组织、保安队伍和热心市民一直保护到小鸳鸯学会飞翔。在新闻发布会上，相关部门和组织自豪地称杭州西湖已经适合野生鸳鸯繁殖了！

如今的杭州西湖俨然已经成了“鸳鸯湖”，孤山也不再孤单而是成为了充满生机的“鸳鸯山”。随着市民动物保护意识和素质的不断提高，人类和这些小精灵们已经可以相对和谐的共处了。如果你走在孤山附近，只要拿着手机也许就可以偶遇这些毛茸茸的小家伙们:D

（本篇完）

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