We like to call ourselves descendants of dragons, because dragons are the totems of our ancestors, which do not exist in real life, and according to the descriptions of dragons in many ancient books, dragons are a collection that incorporates most of the animal characteristics. For example, the image of the dragon is antlers, cow ears, snake necks, etc., and there is an explanation for the origin of the dragon: the formation of different tribes of mutual integration and annexation, for the sake of the human heart, the totem also needs to be fused together to form a new faith.
In short, dragons do not exist in real life, but scientists have found that there is a small animal in nature that is very similar to the legendary dragon and has many unusual small features.
It is the European cave salamander, the 17th century from Slovenian naturalist Johann , in the karst cave exploration, accidentally found a cave is not very active small animal, their body is slender cylindrical, and the limbs and body are very slender compared to the body.
At first, John thought he had discovered the legendary young son of the dragon, the dragon cub, but as soon as the news was sent, an explorer was drawn to watch, and scientists discovered that the creature that looked like a dragon was not a real dragon, but a mysterious species.
Scientists around the world began to carry out research work on this cave creature, and finally found that this is a kind of cave salamander, in the biological classification is a member of the order Tail, the family Axoruptaceae, the genus of the Salamander, although they are relatively rare but have a 15 million years of development and evolution history, but because of the living environment, it has not been discovered by humans!
The cave salamander has always lived in a dark environment, so the eyes have long been degraded, since there is no need to keep it what is the use? The cave salamander has very pink skin, because of the special environment of life, there is no trace of melanin on the whole body, which looks very similar to the dragon we believe in.
The secret to growing up without eating or drinking?
For many animals with a strong metabolism, the intake of food and energy must be very timely, otherwise Xiaoming may not be full for a few days, so why does the creature "not eat or drink" for the cave salamander become its longevity secret?
First of all, the lifespan of the cave salamander is really long relative to its size, in the middle of the last century, scientists found a group of free cave salamanders in a cave in Europe, and carried out conservation research work on them, when scientists recorded the group of cave salamanders, the age of only about 10 years old, but in 2010, the new research team launched a new research program, again to study this batch of cave salamanders, this time they found these cave salamanders different.
Their lifespan is really long, more than half a century has passed, this cave salamander really has no signs of aging, scientists speculate that an ordinary cave salamander lifespan can even reach a hundred years, of course, the current claim has not been confirmed, but at least 60 years old can still be easily achieved.
Cave salamanders do not like to starve, which is related to their living environment, because living in underground caves, sunlight is difficult to shine into, food resources are very scarce, so many cave salamanders can not fill their stomachs at all, they can only evolve a special skill, that is, hunger.
The cave salamander can minimize its own metabolic rate, and only rely on its own stored fat, you can not eat or drink, and the entire time of immobility can reach 7 years.
In order to save energy, the cave salamander is inactive most of the time, only moves when eating and reproducing, and can really not eat or drink for 7 consecutive years.
So it seems that not eating or drinking is not the secret of the longevity of the cave salamander, but it is limited by the living environment, so that they cannot obtain too many food resources, and the final result can only be hungry, and the cave salamander can better adapt to the living environment at the same time.
Perhaps the only way to make the salamander move is the temptation of the other half
Earth creatures need to reproduce, so mating and reproduction is a top priority, which is no exception for cave salamanders. However, the reproduction of the cave salamander also gives way to the lack of resources, because of the lack of food resources, the cave salamander has entered the "low energy consumption mode", such a cave salamander is not eating, drinking, and enjoying the passage of life.
But after all, reproduction is a major event of life that cannot be abandoned, and the cave salamander can completely reproduce, but the time is relatively long, generally speaking, about 12.5 years apart, the cave salamander will carry out a mating action, and then it will enter the "dormancy and indisputable".
Generally speaking, when we think of cave salamanders as "low energy consumption", they are completely immobile. In order to make them move, in addition to the food must be satisfied, followed by the other half of the shout!
Although this dragon-like cave salamander is not a dragon, but its various characteristics are indeed very strange, can not eat or drink for 7 years, 12.5 years will be mated and bred once, most of the time is in the rest, I have to say that from the cave salamander these characteristics are indeed very similar to the dragon.
Text/science black hole, image source network intrusion deletion.