Chapter 824 Crocodiles in the Blackwater River
It's too dangerous!
Seeing with their own eyes that several crocodiles dismembered a small camel in a short time, everyone was inevitably terrified. Seeing that Bifang was less than three meters away from the Black Water River, they hurriedly advised it to stay away.
A gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall. This three-meter distance is like walking on a knife, the coldness piercing your bones.
"Don't worry, it's not that dangerous."
Bifang smiled and pointed at a Nile crocodile that was still tearing pieces of flesh from a baby camel in the distance. Although the scene was extremely bloody and cruel, and people could even see the twitching legs of a camel on the surface of the Blackwater River, there were still several adult camels standing quietly around this tragedy.
When they saw this scene, they not only did not care, but they continued to stand in the river, lowered their heads to drink water, as if the dead beside them were not their own kind at all.
【What is going on here? ? 】
[So indifferent? ]
[Crocodiles don’t bite camels]
"See? Even if these big camels are standing in the water, the Nile crocodiles will not attack them, because they know in their hearts that these big guys are not something they can afford to offend. The relationship between crocodiles and camels here is like the relationship between crocodiles and hippos."
When the audience in front of the screen heard Bifang's analogy to crocodiles and hippos, they suddenly understood.
Even if you haven't eaten pork, you have seen pigs run. These two species are common visitors to the animal world.
"Although hippos always stay in the water, they can swim and dive. They are usually quiet, but once they get angry, they often fight, using their sharp teeth to pierce each other's thick skin. Sometimes when they get angry in the river, they dare to overturn a small boat and bite it in two."
"Although the crocodile's skin is tough and its flesh is thick, it is no match for a small boat. A full-grown hippopotamus can bite a large crocodile in half with one bite, while a crocodile's teeth cannot deal with a hippopotamus. A hippopotamus is faster than a crocodile in the water and on the shore. It is also much stronger and larger than a crocodile."
"So crocodiles will stay away from hippos in waters. But it is not accurate to say that crocodiles do not attack hippos, because if the target is a small hippo, it will not be polite either."
[The camel here is a hippopotamus! 】
"That's right. The adult camels in the canyon are equivalent to the hippopotamus on the African savannah. Although they don't have the terrifying bite force of hippopotamuses, their attack power is equally not to be underestimated. With one hoof, they are very likely to crush the crocodile's head."
"Besides, have you noticed that the crocodiles here are generally smaller in size?"
A crocodile was basking in the sun on the shore with its mouth wide open. Bifang turned over and got off the camel and walked a little closer, which made the audience nervous, but when comparing the two, they found that the crocodile seemed to be less than two meters long?
Compared with the Alpha next to it, it is ridiculously small and looks vulnerable.
It looks like such a big crocodile can only eat a small camel.
"Although I have always called them Nile crocodiles, in fact, their names should be West African Nile crocodiles, or desert crocodiles, West African crocodiles."
[I understand, Desert Butcher Renekton (laughs)]
"The West African crocodile, also known as the West African Nile crocodile and the desert crocodile, was once considered a subspecies of the Nile crocodile. But a 2011 study showed that DNA molecular evidence testing showed differences between the skulls of the Nile crocodile and the West African crocodile, indicating that the West African crocodile is a separate species."
"It's just that, as I said before, the naming of many species has long been commonplace. Even if the nature of the species is recognized and the scientific name is changed, the common name will not be changed. It will continue to be called incorrectly."
After comparing the size of the West African crocodile, Bifang rode on Alpha again and continued walking along the Blackwater River.
"Since they are two species, their body sizes cannot be generalized."
"The Nile crocodile is the largest crocodile and reptile in Africa. Its body length ranges from 2 to 6 meters, and the average length of the largest subspecies is 3.7 meters. There is also a famous monster among them. I don't know if any of you have heard of it. It's called 'Gustave'."
[Gustav, sounds so familiar]
[I think I've heard of it]
[No impression at all]
【Details】
Seeing that everyone is interested, Bifang doesn’t mind introducing it.
"It is said that the largest crocodile in the world is a Nile crocodile named Gustave, which is more than ten meters long. According to official Burundi statistics, it killed nearly 300 people in the decade from 1992 to 2002."
[Fuck, how is this possible! ]
【What a joke】
[Is it so outrageous? ]
[True or false]
[I don’t believe it]
"Honestly, I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, but this crocodile is indeed famous, and many of the records are from local officials."
Bifang smiled bitterly.
The Nile crocodile is the king in the water. Even in the shallows, it can snatch prey from the mouth of the lion, the king of the grassland. A group of Nile crocodiles is a true amphibious overlord.
Generally speaking, most Nile crocodiles will not exceed 5 meters in length and 600 kilograms in weight throughout their lifetime, but there are some chosen crocodiles that are better than other crocodiles from the moment they are born as crocodile eggs.
After hatching from the shell, it grows very rapidly. If it grows up successfully to adulthood, its size will be about 6 meters. When other crocodiles see it, they will bow down to it. It is big enough to dominate the entire river.
Gustave is the chosen crocodile. It was born in Burundi between Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, hidden in the country's largest lake, Lake Tanganyiko. People named it "Gustave".
Its name comes from the Swedish emperor Gustav II, who once conquered half of Europe. He was domineering and majestic.
Many local residents claimed that they had seen this giant beast.
According to people's description, this giant crocodile is so large that it can easily overturn the fishermen's boats. Gustav will quietly lurk in the water and wait for prey to approach, then quickly attack.
In 2004, a war broke out in Burundi. When the war ended, people suddenly remembered that they had not heard from Gustave for a long time.
In 2007, witnesses claimed to have seen Gustav again, but there were a row of bullet holes on its body, most likely left by machine gun fire during the civil war.
[It’s a bit outrageous…]
[Not really believe it]
[I think it might be true. After all, it’s natural. No one can tell for sure.]
[Indeed, nature is so big that there are always some freaks]
[Does Fang Shen believe it? ]
"Me?" Bifang pondered for a moment, then shook his head and gave an ambiguous answer, "I don't know whether I should believe it or not. Maybe it really exists."
The power of nature is infinite, and there are always some elite individuals.
We are all human beings, but some people can run a hundred meters in ten seconds and punch through a sandbag with one punch.
If possible, he really hoped that this crocodile named Gustave existed and he could go see it himself.
"Compared with the Nile crocodile, the West African crocodile seems insignificant. The smallest adult crocodile is only 1 meter long, with an average of 1.5-2 meters. The largest male West African crocodile is 243.5cm long. If the tail is counted, the total length is 250cm. The largest female West African crocodile is 209cm long."
Having just heard about Gustav's legend, the audience was also amazed at the power of the Nile crocodile, but now when they heard about the size of the West African crocodile, they suddenly felt a lot less impressive.
"West African crocodiles mainly eat fish, birds and small creatures such as frogs and insects, which explains why they lack the ability to prey on livestock and how the indigenous people and crocodiles can coexist peacefully."
"The West African crocodile's lack of ability to hunt large prey in the Sahara is key to its survival in the desert and the fundamental reason for its small size."
"So, the West African crocodile can't kill camels at all. It can only eat lone camels. As for why the camels around are so indifferent, it is also a normal phenomenon in nature. Except for its parents, no camel will lend a helping hand to a camel that has been eaten. Perhaps its parents are not nearby."
I see.
Everyone finally understood.
"So we don't have to be afraid of them at all, and crocodiles are actually not as fast as you think."
Most crocodiles are very ferocious and are the most patient hunters. At the moment of hunting, they can shoot out of the water like an arrow, which looks very impactful.
But this is only a temporary behavior and cannot be maintained for a long time.
There are three types of crocodile running postures: like a snake, like a horse, or like a rabbit.
Like a snake, it crawls forward, dragging its belly and pushing forward with its feet when in swamps and muddy riverbanks. This is also the most common posture.
The second is the high gait: This gait is very effective for clearing rocks and branches, and requires the most energy because it needs to lift the huge body off the ground.
The third is running: similar to the hopping of a rabbit, the crocodile pushes the ground with its hind legs at the same time, and then lands on its front legs, making it look like it is jumping.
The audience imagined the scene of the crocodile and the rabbit jumping in their minds, and didn't know what to say for a moment.
Looks like, very funny?
"But the latter two are usually only seen in small crocodiles. Big crocodiles are basically allist, just like pythons."
"West African crocodiles are much smaller than Nile crocodiles, but they are average in the crocodile family. They are not as good as the best, but better than the worst. They can survive a short burst, such as the attack, so it is enough for us to stay three meters away from the river bank."
Bifang casually threw down a piece of ostrich meat, and the crocodile next to it didn't move at all. It was not until Bifang left that everyone saw the West African crocodile slowly move forward and swallow it.
"In ancient Egypt, people even believed that being eaten by a crocodile was a very honorable thing. The crocodile god Sobek carved on the Temple of Sonic was believed to be based on the Nile crocodile."
"However, myths always change with history. Since the 9th century AD, Nile crocodiles have become the target of hunting by humans."
"The ancient Egyptians worshipped Sobek, a crocodile god associated with the pharaoh's fertility and protection, but later Egyptians also hunted crocodiles, seeing them as a source of protection and the pharaoh's power."
“This may be one of the proofs of social change.”
Anyone who has studied archaeology knows about the worship of the living. In ancient times, the most common sculptures unearthed were of women with wide and fat bodies.
Because this body shape is easier to reproduce and early humans had a high infant mortality rate, they would naturally worship it. However, after entering feudal society, human productivity developed rapidly, they armed themselves, the mortality rate dropped significantly, and the primitive worship of life began to disappear.
The powerful image of the crocodile naturally changed from a symbol of fertility to a powerful symbol of power.
"West African crocodiles are more docile than Nile crocodiles and were chosen by the ancient Egyptians for their spiritual rituals and including mummification."
"Historically, West African crocodiles and Nile crocodiles inhabited Egypt in the lower reaches of the Nile River. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus was the first person to record and study crocodiles. Herodotus wrote that picking crocodiles was a sexual activity for the ancient Egyptian priests."
"The priests knew the differences between the two species. The West African crocodile is smaller, more docile, and easier to catch and tame."
"Herodotus also noted that some Egyptians kept crocodiles as pampered pets. At the Temple of Arsinoe at Sobek, a crocodile was kept in the temple, where it was fed, adorned with jewels, and worshipped."
"When a crocodile died, it was embalmed, mummified, placed in a sarcophagus, and then buried in a sacred tomb. Many mummified specimens and even crocodile eggs have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs."
"Recent DNA analysis has shown that crocodile mummies in the caves of Thebes, the caves of Samoun and those in Upper Egypt all belong to this species."
[Another day of gaining knowledge]
【Learning is useless. Learning is useless.】
Bifang rode a camel across most of the Heishui River. There was an endless stream of camels, and a large number of pottery fragments were seen on the ground.
What are these fragments? Garbage?
There are many traces of human beings here.
[There are murals and pottery jars here. This place must have been very prosperous in the past, right?]
Bifang remained silent.
"Around 1840, religious Berbers and Bedouins moved south from the north, replacing the original indigenous Toubu people and giving the oasis its current name."
"The entry of outsiders made business flourish again. The first European to discover this place, Rolfs, entered Dachi along the Sahara trade route that was formed."
"However, the local residents at that time were very hostile to foreign Europeans. Rolfs' expedition team was besieged by the locals and almost lost their lives."
"In the end, the expedition team fled all the way north, all the way to Benghazi. Of course, they couldn't go to Chad, but discovering Dutch was enough to elevate his reputation even higher."
[No wonder circumcision is necessary to disguise it, hahaha]
[I feel miserable]
[This is too dangerous, are you a primitive person?]
【It’s not much different. 】
The prosperity of business made this oasis a good place to store water, and naturally the most useful tools, pottery jars, increased in number.
However, after 2000, all the relatively intact jars were either taken away or smashed to pieces. When Bifang visited the site in person, he only saw numerous scattered fragments, none of which were complete.
[Ah, didn’t the local government protect them? They are all antiques.]
"This is a common misunderstanding. In fact, not all antiques are valuable. Only antiques with cultural and historical value can be sold at a good price. These pottery jars are not too old and their shapes are ordinary. They are mainly practical."
"It has no historical, cultural or artistic value. It is no different from waste. It may be better than waste, but it is not worth spending a lot of money to protect."
