Chapter 889: Survival Rules

After watching the river for a long time, the wildebeest leader finally decided to take the first step and give it a try.

The water was calm, and the golden flowing hair of the wildebeest leader was clearly reflected. A round hoof hanging high slowly stepped in.

"Wow!"

The huge sound of water scared away a circle of wildebeests on the shore, including the wildebeest leader who just wanted to try it. The wet hoof left round marks one after another on the mud.

The river, which was originally crowded with wildebeests, suddenly vacated a semicircular open space with a diameter of more than ten meters, which also allowed the Bifang on the tree and the audience to better observe what happened.

In the open space surrounded by wildebeests, a Nile crocodile with a body length of more than four meters bit a young wildebeest.

A successful hunt!

From the waist to the buttocks, the whole lower body of the young wildebeest was torn tightly by sharp teeth, unable to move, leaving only the two hooves of the upper body kicking constantly, and even so, it gradually became powerless.

After a long journey, many wildebeests were thirsty and licked their lips and noses with thick and long tongues at a high frequency, making low gasps.

Facing the calm river, many wildebeests chose to drink a few sips of water before crossing the river, risking their lives.

The crocodile attacked without hesitation at this time.

This one-meter-long little wildebeest was too small for an adult Nile crocodile, and it was effortless to hunt. It didn't even use the crocodile's signature move of death roll. It raised its head high and swung it to one side.

Under the huge force, a fracture sounded, and the little wildebeest's body bent to an exaggerated degree, obviously breaking its spine on the spot.

No wildebeest tried to step forward to snatch back its companions. They watched the Nile crocodiles that had successfully hunted return to the river with their trophies, seemingly indifferent to the death of their companions.

Only a few equally strong Nile crocodiles on the side came forward to grab food with their companions, adding noise to this strange and silent scene.

[This tail swing is so handsome]

[This picture is too clear, it shocked me, I also want to get a drone like Lao Fang someday]

[You will find that you can't afford it]

[Learn about the million-dollar drone]

Many viewers admire the strength of crocodiles, and some people focus their attention on wildebeests.

[This wildebeest is so cold-blooded, no reaction at all]

[Cold-blooded? This is nature, nature is like this, there is no vitality, everything is a subjective feeling put on by humans]

"Indifference is a normal behavior." Bifang replied after seeing the barrage, "Or, this is their survival strategy, just like we humans will actively avoid a big pothole on the road instead of stepping into it."

The wildebeest can become the largest group of medium and large wild animals in the entire African savannah and even the world, so it naturally has a unique survival strategy.

Bifang, who was sitting on a tree branch, adjusted his sitting posture and raised two fingers in front of the camera: "The actions of wildebeest groups follow two rules."

"The first is to follow the leader or companions, and follow them almost blindly."

"When wildebeests pass through a new area, they tend to line up one by one. If we follow the wildebeest group, we can often see such a scene, that is, the wildebeest group is halfway through, and suddenly an individual dodges to the right."

As if to confirm Bifang's words, the semicircle that was previously vacated due to the hunting of the young wildebeest was still not filled even after the crocodiles left.

The wildebeest leader who was originally going to cross the river fell into a decision again. Many wildebeests then went to the river to drink water, but no wildebeest went to the semicircle that had just been vacated.

Other places are obviously not safe either, and crocodiles are gathering.

Such a scene undoubtedly surprised many viewers.

[It seems to be true]

[What is the conversion? Once bitten by a snake, you are afraid of the rope for ten years? 】

Bifang continued: "The reason may be that the first wildebeest to do this encountered a snake or smelled the scent of the predator, and then in the next half an hour, each individual behind repeated this path, leading the entire team to bend, even if the danger there has disappeared."

"In our opinion, this rule looks stupid, but for low-intelligence animals, it can ensure their safety."

"The same situation will happen when crossing the river. It looks stupid, but it allows them to cross the river smoothly in most of the most difficult places."

After a pause, Bifang began to talk about the second point.

"The second rule is that the movement of the group is more important than anything else."

"Zoologists once saw this scene near Mara: a female wildebeest found that her baby wildebeest was missing after crossing the river, while other individuals were constantly moving forward, so she wanted to return to the river to find her child."

"The baby wildebeest heard the call of its mother and also responded to swim towards her mother, but it couldn't climb ashore because the place where the mother was staying was 4 meters high and a broken slope, but there was a relatively flat place 15 meters away."

After a pause, Bifang added: "I don't know if you have ever encountered dangerous experiences. If you think about it carefully, you will find that in danger, our brains are difficult to notice changes in the external environment. There may be a safe zone next to you, but you are in fear and panic and you don't notice it at all."

[I haven't encountered any danger, but I feel that what Lao Fang said is similar to my first speech. I was fully focused on the manuscript, and then hurried down. In the end, I had no idea how the people below would react.]

[Good guy, you can feel it by comparing it like this.]

"Humans are like this, and animals with more instincts are even more so. The little wildebeest instinctively chased in the direction of its mother and struggled on the broken slope."

"If the mother wildebeest could move to a flatter place 15 meters away from the shore and guide her helpless child, the little wildebeest might be able to get ashore."

"However, the momentum of the group was too great, and the female wildebeest turned around and ran towards the main group without hesitation for too long, choosing to give up."

"The abandoned little wildebeest struggled to exhaustion in the same place, retreated into the water, and became food for crocodiles."

The audience was speechless when they heard this, and they had an indescribable feeling.

Sad?

Or angry?

Nothing.

Facing her child, the female wildebeest finally chose to follow the main group.

These are their two major strategies, blind obedience and close following.

Facing the silence in the live broadcast room, Bifang smiled: "This survival strategy of wildebeests is actually in sharp contrast to the survival rules of zebras."

"Zebras generally use a breeding group as a family unit, that is, a head horse and several female horses and their calves."

"The relationship between family members is very close, especially males, they will follow their offspring closely."

"Once, in the Ngorongoro volcanic area, a zoologist was also wearing a radio collar on a young male zebra who accidentally strayed from the group, and accidentally killed it. So the father of the little zebra began a crazy search. He searched all the family groups in the area for 10 months."

[Grass, knife, I am]

[This comparison]

[Although I am not so moved, I am still a little touched]

[Wait, did Lao Fang say Ngorongoro twice? 】

Bifang shrugged: "That place is called Ngorongoro Crater. I'm not wrong. It is a dead volcano in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa in northern Tanzania. It is known as the 'Garden of Eden in Africa' and is a very complete and beautiful crater in the world."

"Zebras are so persistent and their family ties are so close, but here, their population is only one-fifth of that of wildebeests."

"Although wildebeests are born in danger and surrounded by predators that have been waiting for a long time, the seemingly stupid wildebeests have established the most perfect strategy to adapt to the entire ecosystem, with the largest amount of food and the smallest amount of predation, making themselves the largest kingdom on the Serengeti grassland."

The magnificent beauty of the grassland and the covetous eyes of predators coexist, but millions of wildebeests can survive in it, which has become a miracle in the mammal world.

"Many actions that seem ruthless and indifferent to us are one of the keys to the continuous reproduction of the collective."

"This is why I rarely and do not like to anthropomorphize animals. The perspectives of different species are difficult to understand together. We don't need to understand them. We just need to record them as a bystander."

As soon as Bifang finished speaking, the noisy sound of water was heard again.

This time it was no longer hunting, but the wildebeest finally took a step and led the large group across the river.

Many organisms contain certain toxins in their bodies. Organisms containing toxins can capture prey with the toxins produced by their bodies, etc.

But there are also animals like the black-headed wood shrike, which, although it does not contain toxicity itself, can eat poisonous prey to obtain toxins for itself.