A strange discovery: a python is actually playing with Bolivian pufferfish! Can cross-species really communicate?
A team of scientists led by Omar Entiauspe-Neto, a taxonomist at the Rio Grande Federal University in Brazil, studied biodiversity in a bolivian river called Tijamuchi and found an animal that had rarely been seen before: Bolivian river dolphins.
According to taxonomy, the Bolivian pufferfish belongs to the chordate phylum - mammalian - euphrasia - cetacean - toothed whale suborder - pufferfish - Amazon pufferfish genus - Bolivian pufferfish subspecies, is the world's largest freshwater dolphin, it can reach up to 2.8 meters long, weighing 180 males. Their bodies are very soft and can be easily navigated through the flooded virgin forest. They look a lot like dolphins, belong to the freshwater dolphin species, grayish pink, puffer fish and dolphins actually share a common ancestor.
In September 2012, Bolivian President Evo Morales enacted a law to protect dolphins and declared the Bolivian puffer fish a national treasure. Although it has been deliberately protected, it cannot change the endangered situation of the species, and it is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Mercury pollution from overfishing, deforestation, the construction of hydropower plants and gold mining is responsible for the sharp decline in bolivian puffer fish populations. Therefore, it is not easy to find the Bolivian pufferfish.
However, when the researchers continued to photograph the Bolivian pufferfish, they found that two pufferfish were swimming at the same time, and a python was also playing with them. The team then published the strange situation they observed in the journal Ecology. This has also attracted many fellow scientists to study this event.
You know, pythons are actually semi-aquatic and can hold their breath for a while, but they can't stay underwater for a long time.
Not only that, but Dr. Reichle, one of the research team, found that the two Bolivian pufferfish belonged to the younger pufferfish, and they didn't look like they were preying on pythons, but more like playing with pythons. According to the researchers, this python is the Beni python.
Also known as the Livia anaconda, this python is a native bolivian python. It is non-toxic, while reaching 3.3-4.4 meters in length and weighing about 35 kilograms, and its habitat is usually composed of aquatic muddy swamps.
The Beni python is the top predator in Bolivia and is very strong. For juvenile Bolivian pufferfish, it is impossible to hunt a python of this size.
Not only that, but the Bolivian puffer fish have a diet of fish and crabs, and they don't have the habit of hunting pythons. Even juvenile Bolivian pufferfish are too big for beni pythons, and they don't hunt Bolivian pufferfish. To put it bluntly, the two are not a relationship between hunting and prey, which can be ruled out.
So it's strange, why do these two animals play together?
- The Beni python may have been injured
Although Sonja Wild, a behavioral ecologist from the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior in Germany, was not directly involved in the study, based on known materials, it was proposed that the juvenile Bolivian pufferfish had a strong curiosity about the unknown, and perhaps the Beni python just happened to be injured, so it was brought along by the juvenile Bolivian pufferfish without any resistance.
- The Beni python wrapped around the Bolivian pufferfish
Based on an analysis of a large number of live-action photographs, behavioral ecologist Sonia Wilder identified an unusual place. That is, the Bolivian puffer fish is sexually stimulated. Wilder said he once observed a special case: bottlenose dolphins using shells as tools for play.
Not only that, they even use shells as a tool to trigger sexual stimulation through friction. Diana Rice, a marine mammal scientist and cognitive psychologist from the Johente Academy, believes that it may be because the Beni python is entangled in the Bolivian pufferfish, and for some special reason, it also triggers the sexual stimulation of the Bolivian pufferfish, making it feel happy, so that the Bolivian pufferfish think that the Beni python wants to play with itself.
So the Bolivian pufferfish took the python to play in the river. This scene happened to be discovered by the research team, so it was filmed. Many people may wonder why the Beni python did not strangle the Bolivian pufferfish to death.
There are two main reasons for this, first of all, the Bolivian puffer fish is a bit too big compared to the Beni python, and it is too difficult to strangle directly. Secondly, in the long process of evolution, the Bolivian pufferfish have very soft bodies, and it is actually quite difficult for the Beni python to wrap around them.
Animal experts who study dolphins have also presented some relevant evidence, and through long-term studies of the behavior of dolphins and freshwater pufferfish, they have found that they have the habit of inserting their genitals into living and inanimate objects, and sometimes even rubbing specific parts with toys to trigger sexual stimulation.
Some animal experts have also observed male bottlenose dolphins trying to insert their genitals into the air holes of rescued pilot whales, which sounds very perverted. This has also led scientists to speculate that it is possible that a Bolivian pufferfish playing in the water may also be trying to insert its genitals into the Beni python.
To put it bluntly, this is not a cross-species exchange at all, probably a habit of the Bolivian pufferfish that makes humans look more perverted.
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