Chapter 1240: The Desert Fox

In the desert that seems to be a restricted area for life, there are actually many animals living there, but most of them are very sensible to come out at night, avoiding the high temperature and direct sunlight during the day, and only come out at night when the temperature is suitable.

Before the situation became clear, Zhang Zian didn't want to alarm others—everyone had exhausted a lot of energy during the day and finally had a rest, so don't let everyone get a false alarm because of some trivial matters, there is still a long way to go tomorrow.

But in the desert, it is very difficult to take your footsteps lightly. Every time you take a step, at least half of your feet will sink into the sand, making rustling noises when you walk.

On the other hand, Fina walked like flying on the sand, and barely made a sound.

The pads on the cat's paws can not only silence the sound when walking on flat ground, but they are still effective in the desert. In addition, cats have an excellent sense of balance. Even when walking, they distribute the weight of their body evenly on the soles of their three feet, unlike humans, whose whole body weight is on one sole of their feet, which is of course easy to sink into the sand.

Besides, the cat's body is already light, even though Fina seems to be a little fatter than when she first came to the pet shop...

Fina was walking in front, she suddenly turned her head and stared at Zhang Zian fiercely, "Are you slandering me?"

"No! I was wondering what animal Femus smelled..."

Zhang Zian quickly waved his hands to clarify the misunderstanding.

Even though it was very cool in the middle of the night, a layer of cold sweat broke out on his back, and he thought it was evil, did this guy have a bad eye?

"Humph! Humph!"

Fina obviously didn't believe his explanation, but it was out of face, and it was impossible to use him without evidence, so she could only hum angrily—no matter what he was thinking about secretly, after all, he didn't say it directly , if it pursues it, it will seem too petty.

Femas shook his head left and right, focusing on finding the source of the smell.

"It seems to be behind that piece of sand dune." It said, staring at a small low sand dune nearby.

Zhang Zian took the opportunity to change the topic, "Okay, let's go and have a look."

But Fina stopped and didn't leave, "You walk in front, so you don't have to look around."

Zhang Zian had no choice but to gesture to Femas, knelt down and picked up a handful of sand to determine the direction of the wind. In order to avoid disturbing the animals behind the dunes, he lowered his body and approached the dunes in the direction against the wind, so that the wind could eliminate their smell and sound as much as possible.

He glanced back at the campsite. The camping lantern still glowed reassuringly, like a candle in the darkness.

The slope of this small sand dune is gentle, and it is not difficult to climb. When approaching the sand ridge, he simply walked the last distance with all fours.

He poked out half of his head carefully on the sand ridge, only showing his eyes, and looked to the other side of the dune.

What's that?

The starlight was dim, and he didn't see anything at first, but when his eyes got used to the light and the viewing distance, he vaguely saw a few pairs of will-o'-the-wisp eyes flickering.

He regretted a little, waking up in the middle of the night and still not clear-headed. He didn't take a binoculars when he left the tent. It was impossible to see what kind of animal it was under such dim light.

Fei Na climbed up the sandy ridge belatedly. It stared at it with burning eyes, sniffed and sniffed it, and said disdainfully, "So it's a group of foxes."

"fox?"

Zhang Zian remembered the desert fox Rommel that everyone was talking about last night, but he met the real desert fox tonight.

At first, he was a little worried about jackals and hyenas. In fact, even jackals and hyenas would not take the initiative to attack a large group of people. After knowing that it was just a group of foxes, he finally completely eliminated his worries and replaced them with curiosity.

He had only seen foxes on TV before, but he had never seen them in real life.

Femus asked in a low voice, "What should we do now?"

Zhang Zian couldn't make up his mind whether to leave here or what, and asked Fei Na: "What kind of fox?"

Fina was even more disdainful, "What else can a fox be? It's coquettish and smelly."

"I mean what they look like."

"It looks..." Fina glanced over there again, "They are small in size and have big ears. Oh, they seem to have heard some movement, and they might want to run away...the ears are quite good."

Small body, big ears...

Zhang Zian thought for a while, and immediately realized that there is a kind of fox that really fits this description, and it does live in the Sahara Desert in North Africa, and is highly sought after as a rare pet in many countries - the fennec fox.

A point that many people often misunderstand is that the fox is a genus of foxes in the canine family, and there is no separate fox family, and the fennec fox is the smallest canine animal in the world-now maybe the word "wild" needs to be added As a qualifier, after all, some artificially bred teacup dogs are actually lighter and smaller than fennec foxes.

Fei Na was not exaggerating, Zhang Zian also saw those pair of shining eyes turned to this side at the same time, as if he heard the movement from their side, and was hesitating whether to run away.

The fennec fox is in the middle of the food chain in the desert. It lives by preying on small reptiles such as rodents, insects, and lizards. It is also hunted by larger animals such as falcons and jackals. Therefore, in order to survive and reproduce in the desert , They have evolved large ears with unusual proportions, like two high-sensitivity radars that collect the surrounding movements at all times, even if an insect crawls past under the sand, they can still hear it.

If Zhang Zian and the others hadn't approached from the direction against the wind just now, and the wind had blown away part of the sound and smell, the fennec foxes might have already fled before they climbed the sand ridge.

Zhang Zian thought about it. The purpose of Professor Wei Kang's visit to the desert was not just to study primitive Egyptian cats, but also to investigate and study a series of animal living environments. It is unclear whether Professor Wei Kang is also interested in fennec foxes. Fennec foxes have been domesticated as pets in some countries, but wild fennec foxes are still quite rare.

He quietly moved his body backwards, letting the sand ridge block him, and said to Fina and Femas: "It's rare to meet fennec foxes, let's find a way to catch a few."

Fina raised her face, and said resistingly: "I won't do it! If you want to catch yourself, catch yourself! No matter what kind of fox it is, it's stinky and stinky, and I don't want to touch those things!"

"Hush! Keep your voice down!"

Zhang Zian tried his best to make gestures to lower his voice, otherwise he would really run away without waiting to catch them.

"I'm not asking you to catch it, but I'm asking you and Phimas to help me catch it, but I can't do it on my own," he explained.

Fina was still not very happy, and said half-believingly: "Then tell me and listen."