Who would have thought that near the Year of the Tiger, the first cat to catch fire was the golden leopard?
With the "Golden Leopard = Money Storm = Into the Wallet" of the buckle harmonic terrier, the Golden Leopard has become the new top of the avatar circle, and when you wake up, some people's circle of friends has become an animal conservation garden.
Of course, a mountain is higher than a mountain, and some people say: Change the head of Sun Wukong / Qiao husband and wife to steal the money of the golden leopard.
Some people say that they do not believe in metaphysics, but their bodies are very honest.
In fact, when you see that the golden leopard only thinks of money, then you have missed a lot of interesting trivia.
Today, Ashin came to talk to you about leopards
Nanshan fog leopard
An ancient literary image
In fact, the leopard essence that everyone is pursuing comes from the story of the eleventh and twelfth episodes of the TV series "Journey to the West Sequel", "Tears Sprinkled on the Hidden Misty Mountain", corresponding to the eighty-fifth time "Heart Ape Jealous Wood Mother Demon Master Devouring Zen" and the eighty-sixth time "Wood Mother Helps threaten the monster Jin Gong casts a spell to destroy the demon evil".
In the story, this is a "Leopard Essence of Aiye Flower Skin", occupying the Hidden Mist Mountain as the king, calling himself the "King of Nanshan", using the "Split Petal Plum Blossom Meter" to divert the tiger away from the mountain to lead away three apprentices, capturing the Tang monk, and finally being dozed by Goku, and being "preceded by the eight precepts in his sleep, and built the old monster to death".
As soon as the leopard's head came out, the barrage army began to "suck the leopard's breath"
Of course, we know that "Journey to the West" is not just such a simple adventure story of the Western Heavens, but also hides a lot of literary allusions and philosophical metaphors.
The simplest layer here is the residence of the leopard spirit and the origin of the name:
"Concubines smell that there are leopards in the South Mountain, and those who do not eat for seven days in fog and rain, why not?" I want to make an article with Zeqi hair also. Therefore, it is hidden and far away. ”
This sentence comes from the "Biography of the Daughters of Lie" written by Liu Xiang in the Han Dynasty.
A facsimile of Gu Kaizhi's "Lienu Renzhitu"
It records that during the Zhou Dynasty, there was a doctor named Tao Dazi, whose work ability was not good, "three years of rule tao, his reputation was not happy", but "the family was three times richer", and when he retired, he also killed cattle and slaughtered sheep, and the scenery was infinite.
Therefore, his wife used the story of the "Nanshan XuanBao" to advise him to cultivate himself and live in seclusion:
"I heard that there is a black leopard in Nanshan that stays in the fog and rain for seven days in a row and does not hunt for food. This is because it wants to moisten the fur through the rain and get the pattern. In this way, you can hide yourself and stay away from predators. ”
Later, the "fog leopard", "Nanshan leopard" and "Xuan leopard" became a literary image representing the reclusiveness, and in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, where the wind of seclusion flourished greatly, Xie Shuo wrote that "although there is no Xuan Leopard posture, the southern mountain fog will eventually be hidden", and later, Bai Juyi, Li He, Huang Tingjian and other literati and inkers have used this image, and the image of the "Nanshan fog leopard" can be described as deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Now, do you understand why the leopard spirit in "Journey to the West" lives in the "Hidden Mist Mountain", named "The King of Nanshan"?
Mugwort flower skin leopard essence
What the hell is a leopard?
Speaking of which, there may be a small partner to ask: Wait a minute! Isn't it the Nanshan Leopard? The leopard is a black leopard, why can it grow patterns when it rains? The leopard essence of the ai ye flower skin in "Journey to the West", what kind of leopard is it?
In fact, the black panther is not a separate species, but a blackened variant of the genes associated with melanin synthesis in the big cat, resulting in the blackening of the hair on the whole body.
Leopards and jaguars in the genus Leopard have been found in wild melanized variants, but since it is in China, the "Nanshan Leopard" is most likely a leopard, which is what we commonly call "leopard" and "golden leopard".
Taiyuan Zoo has raised blackened golden leopards, fierce and handsome:
Source: Taiyuan News Network
Did you find it?
Although the panther is black all over, but the whole body is not generally black, a closer look, in fact, there are still patterns.
Moreover, melanized mutants are more common in tropical woodland environments, and scientists speculate that it may be that blackening makes them more adaptable to the dark forest environment.
Although the legend of "raining patterns" is not true, the ancient people's observation of the black panther can also be said to be quite meticulous.
Image source: wikipedia
However, the "Ai Ye Hua Pi Leopard Essence" in "Journey to the West" is obviously not a blackened leopard, so is it an ordinary leopard, that is, the golden leopard in the TV series?
Not necessarily.
We can now judge the kinship of animals through genetics, but the ancients did not have such a technology, they can only distinguish by appearance, and the pattern of leopards has become the best way to distinguish.
Big cats with various patterns Image source: wikipedia
For example, the Compendium of Materia Medica records:
"Leopards, the mountains of eastern liaoning and southwestern china are sometimes present. Shaped like a tiger and small, with a white dough head, he regrets his hair. Its text is like a money person, known as a money leopard, it is advisable to be a qiu. Such as the Ai Ye Person, the Ai Ye Leopard, and the second. There are also golden thread leopards in the western region, and the text is like a golden thread. ”
You see, there are three kinds of golden leopard, mugwort leopard, golden thread leopard, if the golden leopard is equivalent to what we now call the leopard, then the aiye leopard may be another species.
Moreover, in the sixty-first time of "Journey to the West", when the Bull Demon King and Sun Wukong transformed into fighting methods, they also transformed into leopards, and they were also "big leopards with golden spots", which was obviously different from "Ai Ye Flower Skin":
"The walker recognized it, and he dropped his wings and turned into a hungry tiger, cutting his tail and running his hooves, and coming to catch the roe deer for food." The Demon King panicked and transformed into a big leopard with a lot of money to hurt the hungry tiger. ”
And the general folk commonly known as "Aiye Leopard" is actually a snow leopard:
Snow leopard cubs and wormwood, do you think the pattern looks like it?
When he came out of the Hidden Mist Mountain, the woodcutter pointed out the way to the four masters and apprentices and said, "If you are not thousands of miles to the west, it is the Kingdom of Tianzhu." ”
Considering that snow leopards are distributed in Central asia and South Asia, it is also very reasonable that the leopard essence mentioned here is the cultivation of snow leopard into essence!
One trick to distinguish the big cat breed
Have you learned?
In fact, we usually shout leopards, but in fact, they are still quite complicated in classification. When the design sister of the Ashin family helped find the article with pictures, she was confused by the leopards of various patterns.
Counting, "leopard" is both a subfamily name, a genus name, and a species name, and a variety of large cats and cats, in fact, can be divided into a general idea depending on the appearance.
Counting from top to bottom, the leopard subfamily is a subfamily under the cat family, and the fastest running cheetah, although the name has a leopard, looks like a leopard, but in fact belongs to the cat subfamily, from the blood, it is far away from the leopard leopards.
In terms of appearance, when you see a solid spot with tear grooves, you can guess the cheetah first.
The leopard subfamily is divided into leopard genus and clouded leopard genus, and the pattern of the clouded leopard is very large, like a cloud, and it will not be forgotten after seeing it:
Under the genus Leopard, common surviving species are lions, tigers, jaguars, leopards and snow leopards. Lions and tigers do not admit mistakes, and it is often impossible to distinguish between jaguars and leopards.
Compared with leopards, jaguars (also called "jaguars") are more tiger-like in size, with a shorter tail and bulges on the inside of the eye sockets, of course, the most obvious is the pattern: the jaguar and the flowers on the leopard's back are hollow, but the leopard (that is, "leopard" and "golden leopard") has smaller flowers, and there are small black dots in the middle of the jaguar's flowers.
From top to bottom, a map distinguishes between cheetahs, leopards, and jaguars. Image source: wikipedia
Snow leopards are special, their fur is grayish white, with a large furry tail, which is very suitable for hunting in terrain such as the rocky gobi commonly found under snowy mountains and snow lines.
Find out which snow leopard is hunting in the picture. Source: Museum
In addition, the snow leopard's "hissing" call has also been on the hot search before.
We often say that the tiger roaring mountain forest and the hedong lion roar are actually the unique skills of the leopard big cat.
Their hyoid bone is not fully ossified, and is accompanied by a ligament, and this vocal structure gives them the ability to roar - except for the snow leopard, its hyoid bone is between incomplete ossification and full ossification, so it can neither roar like a tiger nor purr like a kitten, but can only emit a howl between a kitten and a bird.
The leopard .gif fiercely
Speaking of which, do you understand the historical allusions and biological trivia of leopards?
The next time you see its "Seven Aunts and Eight Aunts" at the zoo, I believe that everyone will be able to perform well!
Resources:
[1] "The snow leopard's call is very magical because its hyoid bone is very special, and it is the only one in the feline family", the three brothers of the lion, tiger and leopard
[2] "Don't want to hang tall numbers (trees), you can worship this big cat", Species Calendar, Lupin
[3] "Online Grumpy, Where the Hell is the Snow Leopard!" " Museum, Lulu
[4] "Can you really get rich overnight by changing the head of the "Golden Leopard"? National Humanistic History, Si Yuan
[5] "The Multiple Meanings of the Imagery of the "Fog Leopard" in Ancient Chinese Literature", Studies in Chinese Literature, Li Guangsheng
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-End-
2022.1.29
Editor: Sangsang | Review: Yoyo