Chapter 883: Hand in Hand
Only when everyone actually entered the river did they realize that there were far more crocodiles than just those that had crawled onto the shore to bask in the sun.
Pieces of "dead wood" floated to the surface without warning, as if they had been buried under the mud in the river channel before, until the rafts on the river stirred up the water and dispersed the mud, allowing these big guys to float up.
Tens of millions of viewers in front of the screen know exactly what these dead trees are, they are real Nile crocodiles!
They are not the so-called Nile crocodiles in the Egyptian desert, which are actually West African crocodiles, little guys with an average body length of less than 1.7 meters. Instead, they are terrifying giants with an average body length of 3.5 meters for adult males and over 4 meters for middle-aged men!
Space is three-dimensional. If the body length doubles, the weight will increase exponentially.
The West African Nile crocodile is 1.5 meters long and weighs basically no more than 30 kilograms, while a 3.5 meter Nile crocodile can weigh a terrifying 300 kilograms. Compared with the doubled body length, the weight is directly increased tenfold!
If two crazy crocodiles were to attack forcefully, they might be able to overturn the entire raft with their weight alone. If it fell into the water, Bifang would have no say.
The audience who realized this were all terrified. For a moment, the number of viewers and barrage in the live broadcast room increased simultaneously.
[So many, isn’t this too much? It feels like there are double digits just on the surface of the water]
[How many crocodiles are there? The African river is too scary]
[Damn it, they're not really going to attack, are they?]
[It all came out at once, it feels so sharp]
Compared to the panicked audience, Bifang seemed calm and not worried at all, as he had experienced too many similar scenes.
When facing the battlefield for the first time, new recruits will be nervous, but veterans who have fought many battles will never be able to do so.
"Just looking at the appearance, Nile crocodiles are covered with scales, and many people subconsciously think that they have a weak sense of touch, just like the skin covered with calluses is often duller than normal skin. In fact, it is just the opposite. Nile crocodiles have many sensory organs on their body surface, which are more sensitive than normal human skin."
When these words were spoken, everyone was shocked.
How could the scales, which looked so thick, be more sensitive than human skin?
Are you kidding me?
"The scales of crocodiles are just appearances. We need to look beyond appearances to see the essence. In fact, more than 100 years ago, people discovered that crocodiles have many small black spots on their heads, jaws, mouths and between their teeth. These small black spots, well, small black spots are not dirt left over from long-term survival in the wild, but are innate."
"In developing caimans and their embryos, small black spots appear on their heads before the skin begins to split and form scales. Nile crocodiles are even more exaggerated, with additional black spots all over their bodies. People at the time regarded it as a unique organ."
"But we didn't know much about the functions of these organs until now. We have a general understanding of them. In fact, we can get a general idea of their functions from their names."
"Those black spots are unique sensors that we call dome pressure receptors, or integumentary sensory organs, which are a type of sensory organ."
"But the crocodile's skin sensory organs are completely different from those of other vertebrates. They combine touch, heat, cold and chemical stimulus detection to evolve into a highly armored, sensitive skin that is even more sensitive than our own."
"This means that crocodiles can detect surface pressure waves, respond to changes in water pressure, track the movements of prey in the water, and detect prey quickly even in the dark."
"While thermal sensitivity allows them to maintain body temperature by alternating between basking in the sun and entering cold water, chemical perception helps them find the most suitable habitat."
This is why Bifang insists on using a paddling pole instead of a rowing oar. The water waves caused by a rowing oar are much larger than those caused by a paddling pole, which is more likely to attract the attention of crocodiles.
Regardless of whether the crocodile dares to attack or not, it is better to attract less attention than possible.
[This is too exaggerated]
[Is it so awesome? ]
[No wonder all the crocodiles nearby reacted as soon as Lao Fang's raft entered the water]
[The miracle of biology, natural evolution is so amazing]
Bifang nodded and said, "It is indeed amazing. The sensory organs of other vertebrates cannot compare with it. For example, our skin is a distributed sensor system, while crocodiles have centralized this distributed sensor system and turned it into a distributed multi-sensory micro-organ."
"More specific related papers were published in the Central China Journal Evolution and Development. If you are interested, you can take a look."
The audience has now become somewhat accustomed to the practice of throwing away the paper at the slightest disagreement.
This also further proves Bifang's professionalism. At least other wilderness survival anchors do not have such ability.
Not everyone has a memory palace.
"But we don't have to worry for now. If the crocodiles really want to attack, you won't see them surfacing. If they can surface, it means they don't have the desire to attack for now."
Crocodiles usually float on the water, with only their eyes, mouth and nose exposed.
It looks like basking in the sun, but it is actually a standard breathing action.
"If the crocodile really intends to attack, it will not expose itself, but will quietly lurk. After all, who would not let the enemy see themselves before launching a sneak attack? This is too stupid."
"Also, crocodiles have keen senses and are farsighted, so they can better observe the state of their prey underwater."
Crocodiles are extremely farsighted and cannot see clearly at a distance of dozens of meters. On the contrary, due to the different refractive indices of light in water and in air, crocodiles can rely on their body senses to observe more clearly underwater.
"He came out for air now. He must have been startled by me. After observing for a while, he just came up for air."
"Besides, we are on a raft, and the entire target is too big for the crocodiles. They will not attack easily."
Bifang analyzed the situation calmly and slowly pulled the shovel in his hand out of the mud.
For the crocodiles, the entire raft is too big. Perhaps the length of the raft itself is only more than three meters but less than four meters, which is not as long as some well-developed adult Nile crocodiles. However, Nile crocodiles cannot grow to a width of more than two meters!
The area of the entire raft is close to eight square meters. Together with the Bifang standing upright on it, the overall height is more than two meters and the volume is close to 16 cubic meters. From the crocodile's perspective, this is a monster among monsters, and a monster that can live in water.
Maybe something like the King of Hippopotamus?
Even ordinary hippos don’t dare to attack, let alone the king of hippos.
This is probably what the crocodiles think.
[Too cool, Fang Shen really has the upper hand, and the crocodile is in a tight spot]
[This is probably the Great God]
[The crocodile's underwear was touched naked]
[Underwear? Let me show you]
Whether it was the external sensors, farsightedness, or breathing, Bifang showed an extremely detailed understanding of the crocodile, even its psychology was very clear, it was almost a prediction, and this kind of foresight eased the nervousness of the audience.
Humans are often afraid of the unknown, but when the opponent's next move can be accurately predicted, the fear will greatly subside. Of course, fear will still exist.
The river bank was lined with crocodiles, which still looked scary.
Especially since all the crocodiles were motionless, if people didn’t know that this was on the African savannah, many people might have thought they were fake crocodiles.
Those in the river silently surfaced beside the boat, stared at the raft quietly, and finally sank silently.
As the propeller moved, Bifang gradually moved out more than ten meters.
Just when everyone thought they could get through safely this time, the water waves next to the raft slowly spread out, extremely fine.
Bifang frowned.
Is it a crocodile?
No, if a crocodile appeared, the water surface would not behave like this at all.
Such dense ripples look more like the ground is shaking.
Bifang raised his head.
On the plain in the distance, a thin black line appeared in the field of vision and was constantly getting thicker. It was obviously approaching and moving at a very fast speed.
