In 1926, a 16-year-old boy in Australia was out playing when he came across a large black bird with a blue neck. He stepped forward with a stick to provoke, and then he was kicked and flown by Big Bird, and before he could escape, Big Bird ran over and cut his neck...
Birds, even cut their throats?
This is not a sensational legend, but a real event. This killer bird is the crane plover, known as "the most dangerous bird in the world".
The height of the crane is generally between one meter seven and one meter eight, in terms of appearance alone, it is very similar to the ostrich, long neck, small head, strong and powerful thighs, very good at running, but can not fly at all.
The most striking thing is the brown "crown" on the crane's head. It is tall and flat, semi-fan-shaped, and has an extremely hard texture, which looks like a prehistoric creature crowned raptor.
As hard as the crown of the head is its claws, and the crane's claws have three toes with 12cm long nails, which are very sharp, and it is as easy as a dagger to cut the animal's abdomen.
Fortunately, this huge bird mainly eats plants, and occasionally eats some small fish, shrimp, or small animals such as squirrels, and does not eat people.
However, although the crane does not eat people, it has a significant problem: its personality is extremely fierce, and its sense of territory and revenge is also very strong. Other big birds are generally very docile, and the first reaction when they see humans is to avoid far away, except for the crane, if humans take the initiative to invade its territory, it will take the initiative to attack, and chase is far away.
This kind of possession of the territory is most obvious in the female crane plover, whenever two cranes finish mating, the first reaction of the male is to run away quickly, if you run slower, the female crane plover will "turn its face and not recognize the bird" on the spot, chasing the male crane plover for a burst. It is said that some male cranes also have psychological shadows because of this, and they dare not mate.
It is precisely because of the dangerous character of the crane. It poses a great threat to humanity.
On April 6, 1926, Australian 16-year-old Philip McLean called his brother to play in the forest, and while walking, they saw a blue-necked big blackbird about one meter seven.
Although their parents warned them that they must avoid cranes from afar, Philip and his brother rushed forward with sticks in their hands.
Originally, the crane plover was in a good mood and didn't think about what to do with them, but now seeing the two humans coming to beat it, the crane plover immediately launched a counterattack and kicked Philip who rushed to the front several meters away.
Philip's brother was frightened and stupid, and stayed where he was, not daring to move. Then, he saw with his own eyes that Big Bird stepped forward quickly, came to his brother who had just gotten up from the ground, raised his paw and scratched, and a large wound suddenly appeared on his brother's neck, and blood flowed profusely.
After Big Bird killed Philip, he seemed to be in a much better mood and left triumphantly. The younger brother saw that Big Bird had gone away before rushing forward, and found that his poor brother was out of breath, and his eyes were wide with disbelief.
This was the world's first murder of a crane, and the crane plover was notorious as a "killer bird".
During World War II, as the conflict between humans and cranes intensified, the Australian government had to issue a special policy to call on everyone to stay away from cranes. However, the conflict between people and cranes cannot be avoided by a piece of law. It is easy to restrict people, but it is troublesome to restrict birds.
In 2011, a soldier in Papua New Guinea casually threw cigarette butts outside the barbed wire fence in the garrison after smoking a cigarette, only to accidentally ignite dead leaves on the ground.
At this time, a crane plover happened to pass by, and after seeing the smoke, the wind and fire rushed over, and stepped on the fire several times back and forth with its big feet, and abruptly stepped on the fire.
The soldier who almost caused the fire just breathed a sigh of relief, and then saw the crane looking over. Before he could react, the crane rushed straight towards him. If it weren't for the barbed wire fence, maybe the crane would have to "cordially communicate" with the soldiers.
It is precisely because the cranes are so brave and fierce that even the keepers who keep them all year round will attack, and the captive-bred cranes are very rare. Coupled with the so-called aristocracy in Europe, who prides themselves on using the blue feathers on the neck of cranes as decorations, they have attracted a large number of poachers, which has also led to a smaller and smaller number of cranes, and the number of existing cranes is only about 1500-10000.
As humans further erode the rainforest, the phenomenon of cranes fighting with humans is likely to increase...
