Chapter 809 Sand Storm
In the desert, the towel under the felt hat flutters in the wind.
Bifang subconsciously opened his mouth, trying to feel a hint of coolness, but the wind that blew in was like a ball of boiling hot flame, which had no other effect except pouring into his throat, burning his mouth and tongue, and scalding out a wisp of green smoke.
During the journey of more than a week, as we went deeper into Bifang, the nearby sand dunes became higher and higher, and the rocks became fewer and fewer.
Burkina Faso has long become the background behind, and the area now has reached the hinterland of Mali. Looking around, there are towering golden low mountains everywhere, stretching endlessly to form magnificent golden waves. Under the sunlight, it is quite gorgeous, like a golden ocean flashing with infinite light.
"Now it's not just food, water resources are also becoming tight."
The drone camera turned to the side of the camel, on which hung two rattlesnakes without their heads, a single remaining watermelon and some dum palm fruits, and finally a pot of water from Bifang's backpack.
This is all the supplies the man and his camel have now.
[Fang Shen was wrong. In fact, there is still more than half a ton of reserve supplies.]
[You can be a human being]
[Alpha did something wrong, you should treat it like this]
alpha.
This is the name Bifang gave to the male camel .
There is no special meaning, it's just more convenient to call it. In the past two days, the camel seems to understand that this title is its name and has started to respond.
And the relationship between the two has taken a step further. At night, the camel is no longer tied three meters away, but is directly brought by the side.
On the surface, Alpha is no different from an ordinary camel, but Bifang will not do some overly intimate actions, such as standing behind it for a long time, or feeding it at close range.
There are all kinds of strange animals in nature, and nature has given animals ingenious relationships. Some animals are kind to humans, some regard humans as natural disasters, and some animals have not seen humans for thousands of years, but can still have natural emotions with humans.
The sun was shining brightly and it was noon. Bifang stroked Alpha's neck and found a place to rest to avoid the hottest time of the day.
Leaning in the shadow, Alpha tossed the sand with his hooves and chose a comfortable spot to kneel down.
Bifang took some fruits and a rattlesnake from it, sliced the smoked snake meat with a dagger, and stuffed it into his mouth to replenish his strength.
It has to be said that the appearance of Alpha brought great help to Bifang.
During the entire journey, Bifang saved a lot of physical energy and time, and did not have to interrupt the journey frequently for water and food.
Normally, it would take at least 20 days to walk from Burkina Faso to the heart of Mali, or even to reach the destination on foot. In between, you would also have to spend time hunting and looking for water and food. But with the help of camels, this time can be shortened to ten days, more than twice as fast.
Catch two rattlesnakes today, a handful of scorpions tomorrow, and you might encounter a small lizard or jerboa the day after tomorrow.
The only regret is that jerboa is an endangered species and cannot be eaten, so Bifang gave it a slap on the head, letting the big-eared mouse know that human hearts are treacherous and then let it go.
These animals are not big in size, so it is impossible for them to be full, but it is indeed very convenient and simple to catch them while traveling, which in turn speeds up the entire crossing process.
"There's a difference between taming and domesticating. Taming a domesticated animal is a third type."
"'Tame' is the taming of individual animals, i.e. making them harmless to people. Often it is used to imply some kind of friendly relationship, culminating in the idea that for some species 'it's OK to be around people without wanting to kill them'."
“A species may be more or less adaptable to domestication, but ultimately it’s an individual process.”
"Domestication, on the other hand, means that humans have changed a species to make it easier for it to coexist with humans. The members of this species are now different from any original species they came from, and their instincts have been changed so that it is more natural for them to be friendly with humans."
"Jared Diamond in Guns, Germs, and Steel discusses what makes a species domesticated or undomesticated, including the specific case of horses and zebras."
“He noted that humans had fully domesticated 14 large animals: sheep, goats, cattle, pigs, horses, Arabian camels, Bactrian camels, llamas and alpacas, donkeys, reindeer, buffalo, yaks, Balinese cattle, and mithan. Many of these species are related. And he claimed that for a species to be domesticated, it must have certain traits.”
"It has to be an omnivore or herbivore, able to grow quickly, reproduce well in captivity, have the right temperament - some animals are actually quite unpleasant or downright hostile to humans, like zebras because they have violent temperaments and often bite people - then be able to accept being in captivity, and finally have a social structure, or hierarchy, that allows them to accept a subordinate role."
"This is consistent with a popular theory that we domesticate animals by enacting roles within their natural hierarchy. In other words, animals make us enact an existing role that their own species would normally assume."
"For example, a dog owner is seen as a member of the pack, like the alpha wolf in a wolf pack."
“It has also been suggested that many of the animals we domesticate have evolved a state of extended childhood in which they respond to us as infants, just as adults in their species would.”
Although zebras resemble horses, taming them is almost impossible.
As early as when the Boers settled in South Africa, they tried to tame zebras, but the results were not satisfactory.
These animals panic at any additional pressure on their backs, and taming them would require generations of domesticated zebras before a more docile variant would emerge, which, like wheat, would take perhaps hundreds of years or more.
Horses appear to have had a different genetic path that led to their domestication.
They find themselves living in northern latitudes where there are far fewer predators other than humans.
As a result of the Ice Age and subsequent human migrations into North America, they would be driven to extinction by overhunting by ancestral Indians, so the refuge shifted to the northern latitudes of Asia, where the horse was first preserved as a food resource and then domesticated by humans for use.
Horses have established a bond with the species that nearly drove them to total extinction.
"Today, the situation is reversed, as the global horse population exceeds 60 million and the zebra population is less than 800,000."
“Nature is so wonderful.”
After listening to Fang’s explanation of the differences between zebras and horses, many viewers had many thoughts.
[cowhide]
[Those who follow me will prosper, and those who go against me will perish, right?]
【Wonderful Nature】
[When can I tame the tiger? I will pet the big cat then.]
[Brother, do you want to play with the Siberian tiger? It's very powerful]
Bifang chewed the sliced snake meat as if he was gnawing on a piece of leather belt. It was hard and old and difficult to chew. Swallowing it into his smoking throat was like swallowing a piece of prickly fur.
"As for the idea of taming sharks, snakes and various lizards, the reality is that most species on Earth are impossible to tame, and even those that are tamed to a certain degree cannot live in close proximity to humans without exhibiting behaviors that endanger both the animal and its human host."
"Many people like to keep some exotic creatures. I have no objection, but the premise is to take good care of them and not let them escape. Don't release them into the environment and cause species invasion. Even if you really don't like them, it's best to get rid of them yourself."
[By the way, will Fang Shen raise more and more animals in the future?]
[To be honest, last time there were six dogs, and now there is a camel. I think Lao Fang has the potential to open a zoo]
[Looking forward to the day when the Wilderness Zoo opens]
[Why doesn’t Lao Fang bring Goudan and the others to the club? Let them run around and have fun.]
"I'll think about it."
Bifang smiled and did not reject the fans' request on the spot.
At four o'clock, the sun was setting slightly, and the sunlight in the air was no longer as scorching as it was in the afternoon. Bifang pulled Alpha's reins and stood up to continue on their way.
"There are many stories circulating in this desert. It is said that a caravan once passed through the Sahara Desert and eventually collapsed in the desert due to lack of water. But in fact, there was a well nearly 100 meters away. Perhaps they died because of their own hopelessness."
"Water is indeed a top priority in desert survival. If water is available, it should be rationed."
"It depends on whether the necessary water resources can be obtained, and at the same time, it is necessary to protect it from the scorching sun and minimize the loss of water. A slight imbalance is allowed. For every two liters of water lost, at least one and a half liters should be replaced, that is, a ratio of 4:3."
"It is important to rehydrate your body after sweating so that the damage is minimized and precious water resources are not wasted."
"Lack of body fluids does not reduce the amount of sweating. Sweating is one of the mechanisms of cooling the body, and its purpose is not to excrete water. Drinking too much water at one time, exceeding the body's needs, will be excreted immediately, with no benefit, and may even cause water poisoning."
[Water poisoning, I won’t say who it was]
【Hahaha】
[Interesting]
"If your vehicle broke down while you were planning to travel through the desert, you could and should have identified known oases, qanats or water holes along the way."
“A qanat can be so deep that you need buckets and ropes to bring up the water. Water holes at the bottom of a dry riverbed are often seasonal and are usually covered with slabs or branches from previous generations, which is how you spot them.”
"If you're far from a known waterhole, you may find water if you dig hard in the lowest spot just outside a bend in a dry stream, or in the lowest spot between sand dunes."
"Of course, in the desert, it's worth tracking local wildlife to find water sources. There's a saying among desert residents: 'It's always wiser to follow an existing path than to open up a new one.'"
[More strange quotes]
【This is used in the composition】
[Last time I wrote an essay, I used Fangshen, hahahahaha]
[Damn, this can be used? ]
[What's so brave? Just put it on, put it on hard, put it on hard, you have to put it on, it's safer, although it's not comfortable, but it's a guarantee]
[Why do I feel that this sentence is getting weirder and weirder the more I hear it]
“People and animals often follow the same paths, which often wind in a winding way across the land.”
“If you come across a path like this in the desert that is often traveled by people or animals, you must follow it.”
"Don't go in a straight line to avoid those turns. Because the path that people and animals often take is the least obstructed and often goes from one shade to another shade and from one water source to another water source."
"This trick is very useful in many environments, just like when I followed the white-lipped buffalo to find . It may be dangerous, but you must remember that some desert animals do not drink water, but get enough water from their food."
"You need to have enough experience and animal identification skills."
"Always remember to save your energy and water as much as possible, make the most of time and space, and don't work in hot weather. Sweating will take away more body fluids, and you may not be able to find water. You must find a balance between losing body fluids and possible gains."
"Depending on the environment, you could even take advantage of the water provided by cacti and various roots, and you could use the huge temperature difference between day and night in the desert to condense water vapor to get water."
[Oh yeah, come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cactus or anything like that.]
[Hiss, now that you mention it, I remember that Lao Fang has been walking for so long and hasn’t encountered a cactus. There were so many plants before, but I haven’t seen any of them.]
"Because there are no cacti in the Sahara. No, it's not that there are none, but there are very few. After all, with globalization, it's normal for species invasions to occur."
Bifang looked around at the vast desert and explained.
This immediately surprised everyone, because in their impression, the desert and cactus are an inseparable pair!
"This is a common misconception among normal people. Cactus is an American plant, and it can't survive in all deserts."
"Cactus is a typical CAM plant, that is, a plant with a Crassulacean acid metabolic pathway. Most of them are succulent plants, which can be simply understood as fleshy plants. The leaves degenerate into needles, and the stomata are closed during the day to reduce transpiration. The stems are thick and juicy, with well-developed parenchyma cells that store abundant water. The epidermis of the stems has a thick and hard wax as a protective layer..."
"It is also because of these abilities that they can withstand hot and dry environments. In addition, the cactus has a large root system that can absorb precipitation in the rainy season and store it in its body for use in the dry season, so that it will not die of dehydration from living on the scorching sand and rocks."
"Mexico and southern have a tropical savanna climate with distinct wet and dry seasons. The wet season is shorter, and cacti absorb a lot of water in the wet season to preserve it in order to ensure that they can consume it in the dry season."
"But!" Bifang paused, attracting everyone's attention, "It is not cold-resistant, and it is difficult to survive below zero degrees."
"For example, the Taklimakan wetland has hot and dry summers but cold winters, so the temperature conditions for cacti to survive in the wild are not met, so they do not grow in the wild."
"The Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East and even the entire Sahara Desert have a typical tropical desert climate. It is hot all year round with little precipitation. The water conditions are too poor to support the cactus's requirement for water storage. In addition, the temperature at night is usually below zero, so there are no cacti."
"But further north, near the sea, such as Morocco, there are more cacti, and even cactus forests, which are still very impressive. You can go and have a look if you have time."
[Okay, I'll go when I have time (dog head)]
[This shocked me for a whole year. I always thought that cacti and deserts were normal configurations. Damn, it turns out that not all of them have them.]
[Indeed, this is the first time I’ve heard of such a thing…]
【A bit hanging】
[Fang Shen knows a lot]
[Can I refute someone who says that cacti have strong vitality in the future like this? ]
[Actually, it’s not possible, because it’s still very strong (funny)]
The live broadcast room was full of flattery again, but Bifang pulled the reins at this moment and sniffed gently.
Just when everyone thought there was something unusual, Bifang suddenly smiled.
"A sandstorm is coming."
