Chapter 867: Little Wildebeest
The traces in the grass were very obvious, a long scratch spreading and sliding into the distance.
It was obviously a snake.
"Snakes are very common in the wilderness and you can encounter them almost every time, especially when it rains."
Bifang squatted down and followed the traces.
"Snakes are highly active before, during and after the rains because their prey, such as frogs and mice, come out."
"The former likes a humid environment. With more moisture in the air, the skin can be fully moisturized, so they become active. The latter is to avoid rain and prevent low-lying caves from being flooded, so snakes coming out at this time are likely to fill their stomachs."
"It's just that snakes are cold-blooded animals. They will only become active when the temperature is above 18 degrees. I guess it was too cold last night, so as soon as the rain stopped and the sun came out, the temperature just rose a little, it couldn't wait, and we happened to meet it."
This snake shape in the slippery mud was like an arrow, guiding Bifang forward.
Harley also lowered his head and sniffed, as if he had discovered something.
Under Minghuang's guidance, it didn't take long for the man and the leopard to see the target lurking in the bushes.
Another adder!
"Hey, I didn't expect it to be an old face."
Bifang laughed outside the bushes.
He had encountered one before when catching beetles under the myrrh tree, but that beetle was quite agile and ran away as soon as he saw any unusual movement. At that time, Bifang's attention was more on the myrrh tree, so he ignored it. He never expected to encounter another one now.
Harley was quite nervous when he saw the venomous snake.
Not only humans, but animals also have the fear of venomous snakes engraved in their genes. When the cheetah saw this long poisonous creature for the first time, it instinctively felt uncomfortable, especially the brown stripes on its body, which gave people the feeling that it was not easy to mess with.
In fact, almost all people with tattoos in the animal kingdom are not easy to deal with, followed by those with permed hair.
"I didn't have time to introduce it last time, but I met it again this time. It's a puff adder, commonly known as the puff viper. It's a poisonous viper and is known as the most common venomous snake in Africa. It's found almost all over Africa."
"Because this guy has a super strong reproductive capacity, both in terms of reproduction method and the number of cubs."
"It produces pheromones to attract males and wraps its neck around them. In Malindi, a female snake attracted seven male snakes to follow it. After that, it will produce a large number of baby snakes, usually 50-60 each, and sometimes 80 is not impossible."
"In the past, there was a female snake from Kenya in a Czech zoo that gave birth to 156 baby snakes at once, which is the current world record holder."
Bifang searched his memory briefly and found a little interesting thing.
"Due to its widespread distribution, abundance, large size, potent venom and bite, the puff adder causes more fatalities than any other venomous snake in Africa."
[Wow, so fertile? ]
[Fuck, this is several times larger than other normal snakes]
[A bit outrageous]
[Pa pa lays eggs, right?]
"It doesn't lay eggs. It gives birth to live young, so when it comes out it's a baby snake."
[To be honest, I feel that fetal and oviparous birth is not as good as oviparous birth. It makes me sick just thinking about it.]
[Indeed, a bunch of little snakes were squeezed out directly, just like parasites]
[Don't say that, my dear brother. I feel dizzy just thinking about it.]
Now that it had seen it, Bifang would certainly not let it go. It walked forward with a stick to attract the poisonous snake's attention.
"The puff adder moves fast and is very aggressive, so you have to be careful when catching it. The attack range can be one-third of its body length, and the safe distance is at least one meter."
After several attempts, the puff adder finally couldn't bear it anymore and stuck its head out to bite, but was immediately hit on the neck by a tree stick.
Under the principle of leverage, the speed of the Bifang holding the tree stick was no slower than the attack of the poisonous snake, and the force was extremely great. One blow knocked the puff adder unconscious, causing it to struggle and roll wildly on the ground.
Harley on the side took a few steps back, stunned. He kept turning around in circles, wanting to get closer but not daring to.
Seeing this, Bifang didn't hesitate and, seizing the right moment, hit the snake on the head again, killing it instantly.
He found a relatively clean puddle nearby, and after briefly dealing with the snake's corpse, Bifang wrapped it up and put it in his bag.
Of course, it’s in a place separate from Jerry’s nest, otherwise the little guy might be scared crazy.
"We've gained a lot right after we came out, so it's a good start."
Bifang was in a good mood, and even his steps became lighter.
The only regret is that catching a snake wouldn't teach Harley anything, and he would rather encounter some four-hoofed animals.
And not all four-hoofed animals can be used. African buffalo, for example, is a bit beyond the scope of Halley. Even if Bifang succeeds in hunting, there will not be much to learn.
One of the Big Five in Africa, the Widowmaker doesn't joke with you.
So after much thought, it would be best to choose a four-hoofed animal that is not particularly large and is not rare in number. The former is suitable for cheetah hunting, and the latter is suitable for Bifang live broadcast.
The animals haven’t come back yet, so the chances are slim, but the situation should change if we wait a few more days.
In the next two days, Bi Fang took the cheetah Harley and headed north, hunting some small animals and trying to find suitable targets.
The frequency of rain is visibly increasing, with basically one rain in the morning and one in the evening. However, neither rain is as heavy as the first one, and the ground dries up quite quickly.
At noon that day, Bifang encountered a suitable four-hoofed animal, a group of antelopes.
"Turning wildebeest!"
Bifang was quite surprised that he actually ran into him!
[What is this, an antelope? ]
[Have the animals migrated back? Is this the vanguard?]
The audience also seemed very excited to see the antelope.
Does this seem to mean that a real hunt is about to begin?
"No, not the vanguard." Bifang took a few steps back to hide his figure.
"Not all animals migrate. The main migratory animals are wildebeests, zebras and antelopes. But not all antelopes migrate. The main antelopes are gazelles, and most other antelopes do not migrate."
"The reason animals migrate is to survive better. There are too many wildebeests, zebras and gazelles on the savannah, millions of them, and they simply cannot get enough food during the dry season. But this is not the case for other animals. If these three large families leave, the remaining food can survive."
"What we see in front of us is the ibex, a species of antelope that is somewhere between migratory and non-migratory. They move around in search of grass and water, and if there is not enough food, they will join the migration. If there is a waterhole nearby, they may not leave."
Bifang whispered.
At this time, the drone also approached the wildebeests, allowing the audience to get a good look at this group of creatures.
The ibex is very interesting. There are many purple-blue spots on its face and legs, which make it look like it has been beaten.
The back and upper body are covered with a layer of short, shiny fur, which can be rusty red or tan, and there is a black band from the forehead to the tip of the nose.
Although its body looks similar to that of an antelope, its face is very much like that of a cow, especially its horns, which grow from the top of its head but spread out to the sides, like the curved horns of a buffalo, but with antelope-like ring-shaped ridges on them, hence the name wildebeest.
Judging from its size alone, it is indeed a very suitable hunting target.
There are a total of five wildebeests in front of us, which is a normal herd composition.
The quantity is not very large.
"The wildebeests live in groups of two or three, or more than ten or twenty . But they are not as large as wildebeests. At most, there are only about one or two hundred of them gathered together."
Bifang never underestimates herbivores. Quantitative change leads to qualitative change, and quantity is a very critical data.
The group before us only has five members, and they pose limited threat, making them perfect training targets.
It seemed like the first time he had seen such a big creature. Harley was a little curious and doubtful. He poked his head around Bifang, lay down and climbed up again, with his upper body rising and falling constantly. He seemed to be eager to try, but due to his own ability, he was a little hesitant.
Bifang pressed its head down and buried it in the grass.
If you keep shaking it like this, it will be discovered sooner or later.
"For group animals, we also need to choose a suitable target, such as the elderly, pregnant women, or patients, so that the success rate can be greatly increased."
Bifang glanced at them one by one and suddenly pointed at one of them.
"Look, the one in the middle has a big belly and looks like it's about to give birth. It's almost the best hunting target."
The first-person perspective follows Bifang's finger and the audience quickly locks on the target.
[Ah, such a big belly]
[What's going on? Are you pregnant? ]
[She's a pregnant woman! ]
[Pregnant, sick, or old people are the favorites of predators. ]
It was a long-horned wildebeest. Although it sounds strange to say this, both male and female wildebeests have horns, and the one that was pointed out had an abnormally large belly, and it was obvious that she was pregnant. Therefore, the audience understood without Bifang saying much.
"Although it may sound cruel, pregnant female animals are indeed easy targets in nature, second only to sick ones."
At a glance at these five wildebeests, none of them were lame or sick. They were basically very energetic, even the old ones.
The age of a horned animal can basically be determined by looking at its horns, especially antelopes, which have more horn segments over the years, but Bifang did not see such an animal.
Normally, even if a pregnant woman is easy to catch, Bifang would not do it. However, since he wants to be a "teacher", he must set a good example. Therefore, this time he set his target on the pregnant ibex.
"I need to prepare first."
"When startled, the horned wildebeest can run up to 70 kilometers per hour and will jump over other wildebeest to escape danger. They are considered the fastest antelope, so we have to camouflage ourselves and get close to them, and try to kill them in one shot, otherwise we will miss the opportunity."
Bifang slowly retreated with Harley. He looked around and prepared to disguise himself first.
But before leaving the safe area, the cry of a wildebeest broke the silence of the grassland.
At first Bifang thought he had been discovered accidentally, but when he looked up he found that the herd of wildebeests did not scatter but were gathered together tightly.
The one making the call was the female wildebeest that Bifang had pointed to earlier.
Just when everyone was wondering what was going on, Bifang looked at her trembling legs, suddenly realized something, and was stunned.
"No way, she's going to give birth soon?"
[Fuck, she's going to give birth? ]
[Are you sure? What a coincidence? ]
【Give birth now?】
"No, it seems to be around this time period." Bifang suddenly thought of this.
Unlike other species of the same genus, this group of wildebeest usually calve at the end of the dry season and has a high success rate.
And isn’t the dry season just ending now?
【What a coincidence】
[Awesome, you can encounter anything]
【Something】
[Another eye-opening day]
Seeing this, Bifang was not in a hurry and continued to retreat. After reaching a certain distance, he began to smear mud on his body and insert branches of bushes to blend himself into the environment as much as possible, while also eliminating the smell.
At the same time, I saw the production scene on the opposite side and told him something interesting.
"In fact, some people have found that there is a strange 'role reversal' phenomenon in the reproductive behavior of African horned wildebeest, that is, males are picky and females are aggressive."
"During the courtship process, some male wildebeests are actually in a very passive state. They become the object of crazy pursuit by overly enthusiastic female wildebeests, but they may reject the courtship of the opposite sex because the females are too active."
【What is this】
[True or false]
[Damn, this is the first time I heard of this]
[Oh my god, why can't I get such a good thing? ]
Unlike most antelopes, female wildebeests only have one day a year to get pregnant, and only meet males once, so they tend to chase and treat males enthusiastically, rather than being the one to be courted like other animals.
Therefore, male wildebeests carefully select their partners every year. They don't like females who are too proactive, and sometimes such partners even annoy them.
Some overzealous females can be very aggressive in their pursuit of males, and in an attempt to reject their advances, the males will attack them and engage in a fight.
"This is thought to help males conserve their stamina, which means maintaining their sperm numbers in order to respond to potential breeding with new partners and maximise the number of possible mates."
[I am sure that human evolution is going in the wrong direction (dog head)]
【Eat soft rice and eat hard (sure)】
[I also want a proactive sister, please]
【Copper Ball】
After completing all the disguises, Bifang seemed to blend into the environment, except that the hair color was a bit abrupt, but it didn't matter, as animals are basically color blind.
At the same time, the birth of the wildebeest was finally over. A wet baby wildebeest appeared on the grassland, trembling and trying to stand up.
