Poetry is one of the important symbols of Our culture, the ancients chanted all things at the same time, some naturally spiritual animals, but also they do not hesitate to praise and depict the object.
Mandarin duck - unworthy of the name "infatuation"
When mandarin ducks are mentioned, people will think of pairs of pairs, white heads and old people. However, the facts are surprising! Zoologists have observed their habits and discovered that Mandarin ducks are actually "carrots with big hearts" and that they change their mates every breeding season.
Mandarin ducks in pairs
After entering the courtship period, a male Mandarin duck will often wander around multiple female Mandarin ducks, and pursue love for them at the same time, and soon it will establish a "family" with the "girl" of its choice and give birth to offspring.
Not long after the baby duck is born, it has developed very well and can move normally. At this time, it will follow the mandarin duck mother out of the nest to learn the skills of survival and open up its own world!
Mandarin duck mothers raise baby Mandarin ducks
At this time, the Mandarin Duck Father will find a very hidden place, change his colorful breeding feathers, and return to the "gray head and dirty face" look.
Male Mandarin ducks that fade to breed feathers
The love story of the Mandarin Duck is actually not as beautiful as described in the poem! In fact, the lifespan of the Mandarin duck is very short, the lifespan of the female Mandarin duck is only about 3 years, and the male Mandarin duck is only 5 to 6 years. This act of changing partners every breeding season allows them to have more offspring, which is their survival strategy to continue the superiority of the race.
The docile "little beast" - raccoon
This is what people often call the "raccoon of a hill", it looks like a fox, but it is actually a canine. Wild raccoons are highly adaptable to their environment and can be seen in plains, hills or mountains.
The Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu once recited the verse "I am a wide ant, and he is spared from foxes", describing foxes and raccoons as beasts that eat chickens. In fact, people have wronged this animal, they are very timid, docile, unlike most members of the canine family, they are better at preying on mice, insects, and even fish.
Raccoons eating bird eggs
Raccoons are also the only canids that dormant in winter. Their legs are very short, and they are very inconvenient to move in the snow, which is not conducive to foraging in winter, which may be a survival strategy for raccoons as canines to choose hibernation!
A beautiful and auspicious reptile- a turtle
Turtle is a species that is relatively early recognized by humans, and the earliest appearing text "oracle bone" is a text recorded with turtle shell as the carrier.
Tortoiseshell with oracle bones engraved on it
China's Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai once described in a poem: "The turtle swims on the lotus leaf, the bird stays in the reed flower", the turtle described in the poem leisurely playing among the lotus leaves is likely to be the most widely distributed freshwater turtle in China, commonly known as the turtle.
A turtle crawling leisurely
Turtles are very old reptiles, and turtle shells are an important feature that distinguishes them from other reptiles! In fact, their shell is not an exoskeleton, but a modified chest cavity, which contains about 60 bones.
Legend has it that some turtles can live for hundreds of years, or even thousands of years, but are they really as long as poets or writers describe? Please lock in this issue of Science Zoo, the answer is here!
Science Zoo
On Animals in Poetry
Broadcast Time:
January 1, 2022, 9:54PM
Producer / Tian Long Editor-in-Chief / Liu Ming Wang Zhicun
Editor / Tian Chuyun Liu Qiao Ruan Xueying (Intern)