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Mao started a campaign to kill all sparrows because they eat the "grain of the people". Well, right after that, insects started proliferating, so then they had
by partycoder 9y ago
Mao started a campaign to kill all sparrows because they eat the "grain of the people".
Well, right after that, insects started proliferating, so then they had to exterminate all of them.
Among the insects killed, pollinators died. So that region now looks completely Marsformed and now all agriculture required pollination by hand.
Killing a species can start a slippery slope.
- josiahtu 9y agoSure but not all species play an equally critical role in the ecology.
- partycoder 9y agoInsects and fish eat mosquito larva. That means you would be affecting numerous other species by removing the mosquito.
- DigitalJack 9y agoI've heard this story before. I think it was on a documentary about the source of General Tso's Chicken (and I'm not making a joke), but I don't recall for sure... Do you have a reference?
- partycoder 9y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Pests_Campaign https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Pests_Campaign