S8 Ep149: 6/8. Mao's Sparrow Campaign and the Worst Human-Created Disaster — Steven Moss — Moss recounts Chairman Mao's 1958 order for systematic extermination of the Tree Sparrow, predicated on the erroneous belief that sparrows consumed excessive grain

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6/8. Mao's Sparrow Campaign and the Worst Human-Created Disaster — Steven Moss — Moss recounts Chairman Mao's 1958 order for systematic extermination of the Tree Sparrow, predicated on the erroneous belief that sparrows consumed excessive grain supplies. Moss documents that the Chinese population executed massive killing campaigns, often exhausting sparrows to death through relentless pursuit. Moss explains that because sparrows feed their fledglings primarily on insects, the resulting explosive insect population boom devastated agricultural harvests, contributing to a catastrophic famine potentially killing 45–50 million Chinese citizens. Moss notes that ornithologists who attempted to warn Mao of ecological consequences faced subsequent persecution. Moss documents that this disastrous ecological intervention forced China to import 250,000 replacement sparrows the following year.

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