Chapter 822 Ostrich
In the desert, the huge black and white ostrich wings were cut off bit by bit by Bifang using a dagger.
A great meal.
This ostrich was an adult, a male, weighing at least 200 kilograms. The severely injured cobra would definitely not be able to eat it.
The reason why Bifang specially watched this battle between birds and snakes was that he might have wanted to take advantage of the situation.
"The snake's jaw is only loosely attached to the skull by ligaments. It has a pair of bones at the jaw joint that allow the jaw to articulate at two points on the skull. The ligaments are strong but flexible so that when it swallows, this structure can dislocate and expand greatly, allowing them to open the jaw up to 150 degrees."
"Secondly, the bones between the left and right jaws of snakes are connected to form a movable tenon, and the left and right sides are connected by ligaments, so they can open wide to both sides. Therefore, the snake's mouth can not only open up and down, but also left and right without restrictions, and can expand very large within a certain range, so that it can swallow things that are much larger than their mouths."
"The reason why they evolved this ability is that they cannot chew and can only satisfy their needs by swallowing prey that is large enough at one time."
Snake teeth are thin and sharp, and are not suitable for chewing at all. Animals that are suitable for chewing have blunt teeth. Sharp teeth cannot grind the food into fine powder and then digest it. Snake teeth can only play a fixing role when catching animals.
"But for a cobra, an ostrich weighing more than 200 kilograms is too much for it to swallow, and some juvenile pythons are too much for it, so they are all good for us."
Before hunting, a snake will evaluate whether it can eat what it cannot eat. If it tries to eat but cannot, the snake will first open its mouth to its limit. If that still does not work, the snake will give up the prey.
This time it is obviously not the cobra hunting the ostrich, but a battle of defense.
Venom has always been a powerful weapon for the weak to kill the strong. Although the probability is small, it does exist.
"But I didn't expect the cobra to kill the ostrich at first. I originally wanted to take advantage of the cobra, but I didn't expect to get a big advantage!"
Although ostriches will eat snakes, the possibility of them eating them all is very small.
This is a semi-desert and semi-grassland area. For a bird at the top of the food chain like an ostrich, it is often qualified to be a "picky eater" and basically does not eat everything.
A cobra is big enough that there are usually quite a few left.
But there is not much left than the ostrich. We are really lucky. With more than 200 kilograms, we don’t have to worry about food anymore.
The only thing to worry about is storage.
【The King of Bargains! 】
[Despicable, so despicable! ]
[I thought there would be a fierce fight between dragons and tigers, but this bunch of birds died so quickly. ]
Since the ostrich cannot fly, its feathers are extremely soft and feel great to the touch. Bifang was also careful not to stain its feathers with blood. He first dug a hole next to its neck and then drained the blood while it was still hot.
There is no good storage method, and the containers are all used to store regular fresh water, so the blood water will only be wasted.
The blood gathered in a pool in the sand pit, emitting a strong fishy smell that continued to rise under the scorching sun.
After bleeding, Bifang began to dismember the ostrich, moving a sharp obsidian dagger across its body, cutting through the thick skin and then pulling it aside to reveal the blood-red muscle tissue layer.
"In the wilderness, no part of the animal you hunt should be discarded. In addition to providing fresh meat, the remaining meat of large animals can be preserved, and other inedible parts can be used to make clothes or tools."
"Besides, we need to remove the internal organs as quickly as possible."
Bifang squatted on the ground, cut open the ostrich's abdomen, and a large amount of internal organs poured out.
All of it was taken out and put away in different categories. The stomach bag was heavy and extremely thick.
Bifang cut it at both ends, and immediately , a large amount of sand and gravel mixed with stomach acid poured out.
"Ostriches don't have teeth, so they can't chew. Their stomachs are very large, and they usually have gravel in them, which helps them grind their food."
"So the ostrich's stomach is called a gizzard, which is very thick. After the food enters the gizzard, it will be ground into small pieces to facilitate intestinal absorption. It can be said that they have never been full."
Behind the stomach is a long intestine, which is very long.
"An ostrich's intestine is 14 meters long, twice as long as a human's."
[By the way, this bird is so big]
[What a big bird]
[No wonder he weighs over 200 pounds, so cool]
Bifang was squatting on the ground. With the reference object, the audience could see how big the ostrich was.
Seen from the front, the ostrich's body is almost as tall as the squatting Bifang!
"It's normal. In fact, the height of an ostrich is calculated based on its body height, just like the height at the shoulder for a horse. If you include the head, most male ostriches are taller than humans, which is quite impressive. They are also very strong and can carry an adult male on their backs."
"I was lucky enough to have the Egyptian cobra, otherwise I would never have been able to eat this ostrich."
"In the wild, it is generally believed that there are four subspecies: the North African subspecies, the Somali subspecies, the Maasai subspecies and the South African subspecies. The differences between them are still easy to distinguish. The neck color and feather characteristics are very obvious. The one in front of us is the North African subspecies."
"The North African subspecies is not abundant, unlike the South African subspecies, so it is protected. If it had not died naturally in public, I would not have actively hunted it."
It is well known that Bifang does not touch key protected animals. On the one hand, it strictly abides by the treaty, and on the other hand, it actively maintains the ecological balance and sets an example.
As a public figure, if you do this, you have to bear the consequences.
It doesn’t make sense that Bifang can do whatever it wants just because it has become successful through live streaming.
If it were in China, Bifang would go a step further and would not even touch protected animals that died of natural causes, because it is a legal requirement.
We cannot open this loophole, otherwise next time anyone will have an excuse to say that the animals died of natural causes.
Fortunately, we are now abroad. Although we are usually not allowed to eat protected animals that died of natural causes, the restrictions are not that strong.
For Bifang who has a professional hunter certificate, he can take the initiative to deal with and protect the carcasses of animals.
Furthermore, this is also witnessed by everyone.
Bifang skillfully cut along the body structure of the ostrich, completely removed all parts of the ostrich, and peeled off the complete ostrich skin.
"Ostrich feathers are soft, full and flowing, and feel good. They have excellent thermal insulation properties. Ostrich feathers are the only feathers that do not carry static electricity. They can be used to wipe precision industrial instruments. They are excellent ingredients for the clothing industry. We can take them off and make a small cape, which is also very good."
The Sahara nights are cold, so some protective measures are still needed.
After taking the ostrich meat, Bifang stared at the half of the cobra's tail for a while, not knowing whether he should take it or not.
After thinking about it, I finally gave up.
Snakes eat their own tails.
It is not a parasite that is causing the problem, but rather a hyperactive appetite after eating half full. It looks for food to eat and suddenly finds a moving tail in the process, so it swallows it.
Snakes are creatures with low intelligence. They do not consider their tails and bodies as themselves. If they had no sense of pain, they might really swallow it.
"Snakes in the wild generally don't eat themselves in a wide environment, but in a small environment where they are raised alone and there is no interference from other things, they are particularly likely to find their own tails."
"In addition to a strong appetite, there are also environmental pressures and so on..."
"Dogs also bite their tails, but it's mostly to relieve an itch or to play."
"The cobra was already seriously injured and it is unlikely to survive, but nothing is certain. It may come back to eat its own tail."
"If we take it away, it might kill its last chance of survival."
There is enough ostrich meat. The weather in the Sahara is hot and food easily spoils, so there is no need to eat a cobra.
Carrying a large amount of ostrich meat, Bifang quickly left the canyon which was filled with the smell of blood due to bleeding, and immediately began to process the ostrich meat after leaving.
In order to preserve it, the moisture must be removed, and making it into jerky is the best way.
For this reason, Bifang did not stop the smoking work until night.
No life can live without water, and the same goes for bacteria and microorganisms. Without the living conditions of bacteria and microorganisms, they cannot survive.
Therefore, bacon, sausage, and dry food can be preserved for a long time and are not easy to deteriorate.
It would be even better if it could be pickled. The salt concentration of pickled food increases, and the moisture in bacterial cells continues to seep into the food, causing the bacteria to lose water and die.
Therefore, pickled products have a long shelf life.
Pickled and dried, it is simply the best product, with a shelf life of several years or even decades, just like ham.
But that would require a lot of salt, which Bifang could collect, but didn't have on hand.
But the fumigation is enough, and you will be able to successfully cross over in about another month, so there is no need to persist that long.
You can also enjoy barbecue by the way.
To remove moisture, you cannot roast the meat, you can only smoke and dry it. Bifang made a rack and hung the meat on it.
The fire below was also not idle, roasting today's dinner.
It was a huge ostrich leg with cuts on it to make it easier to season and roast.
The firewood crackled, and bits of fire floated out in the darkness, illuminating Bifang's face red.
The plants in the Sahara are very dry and easy to burn, but they are not resistant to burning. The same burning time and scale require more wood.
"Although this ostrich was killed by snake venom, I have always said that snake venom is mainly composed of proteins and peptides, which can be killed by high temperatures. Therefore, birds killed by venomous snakes can be taken back for consumption as long as they are not spoiled, and can even be used to supplement protein. However, the prerequisite is that they must be cooked at high temperatures for a long time before they can be safely eaten."
Snake venom has two functions: anesthetic and digestive fluid, and its chemical nature is basically protein.
Even if it is not denatured by heat, when the protein reaches the stomach, its peptide chains will break and denature under the action of gastric acid and digestive enzymes, and the spatial structure of the molecules will be destroyed by gastric juice, causing them to lose their activity and function and be converted into non-toxic substances.
Animals killed by venomous snakes are actually pre-digested. Theoretically, there is nothing wrong with eating them directly by humans. However, you must ensure that there is no damage to the human mouth and digestive tract.
"The only thing to note is that animals killed by venomous snakes must be eaten promptly, otherwise they will rot faster than normal deaths over time."
"There is a special race in Africa. It is rumored that they used snake venom as a weapon when hunting. There is a kind of extremely venomous snake called the puff adder in the area. It can kill a strong buffalo in a very short time. People were attracted by its strength and used it to capture buffalo and have a good meal."
"But they didn't put snake venom on their bows and arrows. They were smarter. They caught the snake and tied it up directly to a tree by the river. When the buffalo came to drink water, the snake would jump up and bite it. Then they would go find the poisoned buffalo, take it back and cook it, and they wouldn't be poisoned."
[666, this is too good]
[Biological Trap (Dog Head)]
[Damn, I'm so hungry, this barbecue smells so good]
[I haven't eaten ostrich meat yet, I'm drooling]
There are many spice plants in the desert. Bifang saw quite a few along the way. Sometimes he would pick them and dry them in the sun. They would dry in just one day and would turn into powder with a little rubbing of the hands.
Combined with the collected rock salt, it makes a great seasoning.
After sprinkling salt and spices on it, Bifang used a dagger to cut off a piece of the cooked meat from the surface and stuffed it into his mouth regardless of the heat. Siha inhaled and took a long time before swallowing it, shouting that it was refreshing.
The skin is golden and crispy, making a crackling sound when scraped by the dagger. The surface is also covered with grease. The salt grains melt under the high temperature, and combined with the spice powder collected during the journey, it exudes a strong and exotic fragrance.
Just watching it through the screen makes one's mouth water.
Creatures that have lived in the wild for a long time have well-developed muscles, especially in the legs, and not much fat, so their food inevitably tastes dry and astringent.
But after Bifang's various processing, it has no smell and tastes good. Even if the taste is not good, it still has the advantage of large quantity.
Supplies are hard to find in the Sahara, and Bifang hasn't had such a hearty meal for a long time. He usually eats half full, then mixes it with some water to barely fill his stomach.
"You can't eat too much, or you'll feel sleepy. It's not a big deal at ordinary times, but it's a bit dangerous in the wilderness because you need to stay highly alert, especially when you need to keep watch at night."
Bifang ate while chatting with the audience, and ate with gusto. He even ate most of the whole ostrich leg, which shows how good Bifang's appetite is.
Although the meat is tough, it may not be as good as it is now if it is made into jerky later.
But even so, he only ate 80% and restrained himself.
In this way, the meat is dried during the day and smoked at night, and a lot of moisture in the meat evaporates.
In less than two days, all the ostrich meat was turned into dry food by Bifang and hung on Alpha's back.
With ostriches as a food supplement, there is no need to worry about resource shortages for at least a month. Apart from the need to find fresh water, the pace is also much faster.
However, in semi-grassland areas, water resources are easier to find, and the functions of plants can also be utilized.
