Chapter 851: Feline Subfamily and Sociality
The second meal, the third meal, the fourth meal...
In one day, Bifang fed the baby four times. He came to feed the baby every three hours until ten o'clock in the evening.
From sheep to deer to rabbits, they are all the cheetah's favorite types of food. Until the fourth time, Bifang brought lamb blood sausage, the managers no longer had to stand outside the barbed wire.
The cheetah also let down its guard against Bifang, the man who was almost always hanging around in front of it, and just thought of it as a new strong "keeper". However, it was still a little confused as to why its eating habits had changed so much all of a sudden.
In the past, people only needed one meal a day and were full at once, but now everything has changed.
The next morning, Bifang got up at six o'clock to continue feeding, and the pulled chain woke up the resting cheetah.
When Harley saw the uninvited guest, he vigilantly locked onto the edge of the iron net. After seeing the person coming in, he still did not relax his vigilance. However, compared to his furious state when they first met yesterday, he was much better now and just paced near the iron net.
"A cheetah can usually eat 2.5 kilograms of food a day. If it cannot catch prey for a long time, it can even eat food equivalent to one-fifth of its own weight in extreme conditions."
"In some areas of the Middle East, tamed cheetahs hunt for hunters, and just a spoonful of blood is enough. I changed Harley's food to one catty, or 0.5 kilograms, five times a day, and frequently walked around in front of him, and prolonged the time we spent together."
"You see, Harley has become very familiar with my presence today."
After each feeding, Bifang would stay under Harley's gaze for a while.
From ten minutes the first time, twenty minutes the second time, to one hour the fourth time, the relationship between the two sides was progressing rapidly.
[I understand, Fang Shen's true form is actually a druid! ]
[An excellent survival master, who must also be proficient in excellent animal taming skills, is sure]
[I always imagine myself to be as powerful as Fang Shen, so that even if I have no money, I can travel around the world without worrying about getting lost or starving to death]
"It's been a night, and today is our first time feeding it. Just wait for half an hour. Today I brought it ostrich liver, I hope it will like it."
"On the grassland, large cheetahs like to chase antelopes the most. Those antelopes that run slowly and react slowly are easily eaten."
"Then there are deer. Both deer and antelopes are targets of cheetahs. On the grasslands where no antelopes are found, cheetahs will shift their focus to deer."
"Young cheetahs don't have enough strength and power to eat antelopes and deer, so they can only chase small ostriches on the grassland to eat them."
"Some smaller cheetahs also like to eat rabbits. I always choose food that suits their preferences, which is very helpful in getting animals to get close to you."
After finishing the food, Harley licked the blood at the bottom of the bowl with relish. Finally, he licked his beard with his tongue and paced back and forth under Bifang's gaze.
A quarter of an hour later, he chose a position farthest away from Bifang and lay down, basking in the morning light and yawning several times in succession.
Bifang smiled upon seeing this and said to the audience in the live broadcast room: "In fact, there is one thing you may not know, that is, among all wild cats, cheetahs may be the most friendly."
"If there are older , they may know that in the 1990s, many cubs were still free to run around in the Shanghai Wildlife Park, including cheetahs."
Relatives?
Hearing this, the audience's curiosity was immediately aroused.
[Is this true or false? ]
What is the reason for this?
[Is it possible for everyone to have a cheetah? 】
[When Lao Fang mentioned the Shanghai Zoo, I seemed to have some impression of it. I think I was in elementary school at that time and saw a baby cheetah running around in the zoo.]
[Fuck, is this true? Isn't this going to make me bald?]
[Isn’t this too happy? ]
【Unfortunately, this is not possible now. 】
【Details】
"This is mainly due to two reasons. One is that cheetahs belong to the subfamily Felinae, and the other is that cheetahs have a social structure."
"Let's talk about the first point first."
Bifang simply sat cross-legged on the ground, imitating the cheetah's behavior, and basked in the sun lazily.
"Kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species. Anyone who has studied biology should know this generally accepted classification of species, but it is only the most superficial classification. If you are a professional student of biology, you will know that between family and genus, there is a classification called subfamily ."
"Subfamily is also a level of biological classification. The Latin classification name usually ends with -inae, which is a taxonomic level between family and genus, below the family level."
"A family may be divided into several subfamilies, each of which consists of a special genus within the family or of several genera that differ from the others in their characteristics."
"The emergence of subfamilies is not meaningless, it can help us further distinguish some very different differences between animals."
"Like the cat family, which is actually a fairly large classification, lions, tigers, leopards, cougars, clouded leopards, cheetahs, caracals, wild cats, and domestic cats all belong to the cat family."
"But the cat family is a large category, and there are two subfamilies under it, one is the feline subfamily and the other is the panther subfamily. The difference between these two species is very large!"
"The most intuitive thing is that the cat subfamily has retractable claws, is generally small in size, and cannot roar. There are 12 genera in total. The panther subfamily has non-retractable claws, is generally large in size, and can roar. There are 2 genera in total."
Bifang's biological classification successfully aroused the curiosity of the audience.
Lions, tigers, cougars, jaguars, these well-known hunters all have many superficial admirers. They also know that these are the best among the cat family, but if they are further subdivided into the subfamily of felidae and the subfamily of pantherinae, they seem like Muggles.
People don't know what the difference is, or how it relates to cheetahs being close to humans.
What Bifang said next is the key point.
“The cheetah is actually something very special.”
"Although its name contains the word leopard, it is not actually a true leopard and does not belong to the Pantherinae subfamily, but is a member of the Felinae subfamily."
"Even in the early years, the genus Cheetah was not considered either of them, but was a subfamily of its own, called the Cheetahinae."
"But now this subfamily has been cancelled and the cheetah has been thrown into the feline subfamily. There are only two subfamilies left in the entire cat family, so the cheetah is actually a real big cat, a real cat."
"What I said before was not nonsense. Even if we don't look at the combat capability, from the perspective of genes and performance, cheetahs are really very close to cats."
"But the top predators like tigers and lions are all members of the Pantherinae subfamily. Do you understand the difference?"
[A little confused, but I understand a little bit]
[It means that cheetahs and cats are from the same family, and tigers and lions are from another family? ]
[Good fellow, it’s called Leopard but it’s not a Leopard, isn’t this just fooling people? ]
"Almost the same. Cheetahs are genetically similar to slender-waisted cats. They meow, have slender limbs, and weigh less than 50 kilograms."
"The leopard is a real leopard, fierce and with a deep cry, 'Awoo, Awoo', the kind of bass that cat lovers love the most. It weighs 50-100kg, has thick legs and plum blossom-shaped patterns, like ancient copper coins, and is also called a golden leopard."
"Cheetahs run fast, but they don't have an advantage in strength. Adults are not on their diet, so they are relatively friendly to humans. Of course, that doesn't mean they are not aggressive. Domestic cats can also scratch and bite people. Wild animals are even more aggressive."
"Leopards are different. They can only run half as fast as cheetahs, but they often bully cheetahs. They are overpowering and highly aggressive, and can be deadly to humans."
"Let me digress here. There is another animal with a scary name that is also a big cat. It is the mountain lion."
"This is also a big cat, about the same size as a cheetah, and its fighting power is a little stronger, but it is limited."
"On the contrary, a distant relative of its that seems to have a less impressive name is the jaguar, which is the third largest cat in the world."
"Of course, the jaguar also has another nickname, which is not widely known, but it still reflects some of its combat effectiveness and has some deterrent effect. It's called the jaguar."
[Lion: I can’t even beat a leopard. This is really embarrassing for my lion family (dog head)]
【I have learned a lot】
Too thin
"Of course, there are some minor problems with what I said, but you really can't expect those beasts of the Pantherinae to be more friendly than cheetahs. None of the tigers, lions, leopards, and jaguars are easy to get along with. A slap from them could kill you."
"For cats with a hunting instinct, it is difficult for them to restrain themselves from attacking creatures weaker than themselves."
"And the cats of the subfamily Catinae are generally small in size and have limited lethality. To put it bluntly, you don't care much about them even if they are not friendly to you. They don't have any special thoughts about giants like humans."
[It hurts]
[Speak more subtly]
What about the second point?
[Yes, there is a second point, tell me quickly. ]
"The second point..."
Bifang looked at the time and found that half an hour had passed, so he opened the chain, got out of the cage, and joked.
"Sorry, let's talk about the second point after the second meal today. Otherwise, what if my stock is depleted by you in so many days?"
The audience was dumbfounded.
[Good fellow, you shouldn't interrupt the update like this! ]
[You have no moral principles!!!]
Fortunately, the wait is only three hours.
And this time, Bifang did not choose to turn off the live broadcast and then restart it. Instead, he fixed the drone on the wire fence and pointed the camera at Cheetah Harley before walking away.
At nine o'clock in the morning, Bifang appeared in front of the camera again, continued to be fed, and then sat directly in the cage to continue the morning topic.
"This morning we talked about the difference between the subfamily Cat and the subfamily Panther. Now let's talk about the second reason, which is the social nature of cheetahs."
"I have to mention two representative creatures here, one is the tiger and the other is the lion. The former is a well-known solitary beast, and the latter is also a familiar social beast."
"Among the social animals domesticated by humans, there is a particularly good example, that is the dog. The wolf is probably the most familiar social animal to everyone."
Bifang would like to call the dog the most successfully domesticated animal by humans, no doubt about it.
The domestication of dogs is closely related to the social nature of their ancestor, the wolf.
"Remember what I said about the necessary traits needed to domesticate an animal when I was taming Alpha?"
"One of the points in Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel is that the species has to have a social structure, or hierarchy, that allows them to accept subordinate roles."
"The dog is the first animal to become familiar with humans. It is recognized as the first animal domesticated by humans, much earlier than other domestic animals. It is also the only animal domesticated by humans before the emergence of agriculture."
【I remember this】
【For animals, humans have become part of the herd.】
"In the process of wolves being domesticated into dogs, the most critical first step was taken by the wolves themselves. It was they who chose us first, not the other way around."
"Due to genetic mutations, the 'safe distance' that some wolves maintained with primitive humans was shortened. These special wolves dared to approach the primitive human tribal camps in order to obtain food from the garbage dumps around the camps."
"In the beginning, wolves may have followed hunters to pick up some leftover food and bones. Then, some wolves that did not seem to be threatening, especially their cubs, were adopted by people and reproduced, thus starting the process of domestication."
"In the lives of primitive people, dogs could help people hunt and serve as sentinels, and dogs could also be protected by people. Most importantly, they had a relatively stable source of food. As time went on, generations of wolves with more docile temperaments were selected by people, and dogs were born ."
[I know this. Just like humans and wheat, there is actually a view that wheat tamed humans so that it could reproduce all over the world.]
【hiss!】
[Is it like this? ]
[It’s a bit scary when you think about it]
[It was originally a two-way choice. Everyone chose each other and both could survive better. ]
"The wolf's pack structure is a critical condition for domestication. The ancestors of dogs had clear hierarchies in wolf packs, and each wolf had a different status in the pack."
"Each wolf pack has a leader who is in charge of all matters in the pack, including food distribution, settling disputes, and even reproduction."
"The alpha wolf has supreme power, and the rest of the wolves obey him absolutely and are content with their own position in the pack."
"Although modern wolves and modern dogs are no longer directly related after a long period of evolution, dogs still retain the social habits of wolves."
"But there is one difference. Dogs' social life is no longer limited to their own kind, but has expanded to the humans who raise them."
"What this means is that dogs already consider every family member in the family to be a member of their pack, and dogs generally regard their owners as the alpha wolf, which makes it possible for humans to manage these animals and establish a leadership relationship with them."
Speaking of this, Bifang suddenly seemed to remember something.
"Oh, there is one thing I think I need to mention here, which is that in the dog world, kissing on the cheek and mouth means submission, and the kisser is often of lower status than the recipient."
"You can give it a try. Turn your cheek to the side of the dog, and you will find that the dog will come over and lick your face. This is their way of expressing that you are the boss and it is a sign of submission."
"On the contrary, if you take the initiative to kiss it, you will find that the dog's expression is often confused."
"I've seen many people express their love by kissing their dogs. This is fine in itself. If the owner thinks it's okay, then it's fine. But over time, it's easy for the dog to think it's the boss."
"You'll find that it's getting harder and harder to control, and its temper is getting worse and worse, especially for some large and fierce dogs. It's easy for them to get into trouble if you take them outside. They won't obey your commands because in their eyes, you're the one who should obey."
"So even if you think kissing a dog is okay, try to be prepared to keep it out of trouble."
【！ ！ ！】
[Fuck, why is my dog becoming more and more disobedient!!!]
[Kissing a dog... Don't you think it's dirty...?]
【I can not understand.】
[However, what is the relationship between lions and tigers? ]
"Because if you think about it from the perspective of social interaction, you will find that it is actually safer to keep lions than tigers."
"The same goes for cheetahs."
