Ferrets are small, but they can hunt prey much larger than themselves, so they are famous in the animal kingdom. Honey badgers are fearless in the face of lions, wolverines dare to grab food from lynx, and stoats often run with prey that is several times heavier than themselves. Any ferret has its own "survival weapon".
There are also shrews in the Xiaoxing'an Mountains, and there have been people who have seen the little shrews, running fast from the ground and then burrowing into the cave. The size of the shrew is only the size of an adult's palm, slender and soft, cute and cute appearance, but every year to prey on about 3,000 rats, dare to attack the hare more than ten times larger than themselves, but also dare to hunt the flying woodpecker.
Cute shrew, why do you keep preying every day? The answer is to eat more. The weasel is a cute treasure on the outside, but on the inside he is a foodie and a fanatical predator.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="4" >01 took the initiative: drilled into the cave to prey on rats, and did not let go of any of them</h1>
Do you know how weasels hunt? The most common method of hunting for shrews is to take the initiative.
In summer, the shrew has a white belly and a tan back, burrowing into the forest, and the fallen leaves and grass can cover it. In winter, the ferret is snow-white, except for the eyes and nose, the whole body is white, blending with the snow.
In the forests of the Xiaoxing'an Mountains, weasels often burrow into tree holes and holes in the ground to find prey. Rats live in the ground digging holes, if they are targeted by shrews, it is called a miserable, a nest of rats, and none of them can escape.
Those hidden rat holes, small and deep, in all directions, the shrews in and out of the rat holes, just like in their own homes, familiar with the way in and out. Catch a mouse, rush up to it, bite off its throat, and be soft.
After biting one, he was not in a hurry to eat, but continued to run in the cave, solving the escaped rats one by one, and then moving back to his cave.
Eat rats, eat first from the brain, and the ones that can't be eaten are piled up in the cave. Even if there is food reserves, the weasel will not stop hunting, still running around in the forest, seeing prey, and killing it without saying a word.
Sometimes, the shrew will directly occupy the rat's burrow, like a small bully in the forest, which makes the rats feel frightened.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="12" >02 Sneak Attack: Attack a hare more than ten times larger, drag it home and eat slowly</h1>
The ferret catches rats with skill, almost no effort, but the naturally fierce ferrets will not be satisfied with eating only rats and insects, and will also prey on prey that is much larger than itself, such as hares.
The ferret has a quick hand, as well as a keen sense of sight, hearing, and smell. If you want to catch a hare that is more than ten times larger than yourself, the weasel will not rampage like a rat catcher, but lurk in the snow cave, waiting for the rabbit, and using the stealth sneak attack method.
In the white snow, even if the ferret is moving, the hare is difficult to identify. Hares come out of their burrows to forage for food, jumping around in the snow looking for food to eat.
When the hare was eating the grass roots with its head down, the weasel suddenly jumped out, and in the blink of an eye, it jumped onto the hare's back and bit the back of its neck. The hare was suddenly attacked, screamed loudly in fright, and instinctively ran.
But the weasel rode on the hare, and no matter how it bumped, it did not let go, and pierced the rabbit's neck with its sharp teeth. After a while the hare could not run, made a low whimpering sound, and finally died under the mouth of the weasel.
The weasel bites the fur of the dead hare and drags it around the snow. When the researchers saw this scene, they thought they were blind, how could the hare walk sideways, and it was walking against the ground? In fact, it is the weasel that half drags and half drives the hare back, and when it returns to its cave, it slowly eats the hare. Although lingfei is a foodie, he is not used to "eating and sleeping in the wind", and he always has to take it home and then eat it.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="19" >03 Brute Force Ambush: Ride on a woodpecker and fly into the sky without letting go</h1>
In addition to active attacks and sneak attacks, the ferret will also use brute force ambush methods. This trick is usually used against birds flying in the sky.
The photographer photographed the ferret brute force ambushing the woodpecker. When a hapless woodpecker stopped to rest, it encountered a weasel and immediately spread its wings and took off.
It was in this short moment that the weasel flew over and rode onto the woodpecker that had already flown, and as the woodpecker flew into the sky, at the same time, the sharp teeth clenched the woodpecker and resolutely did not let go.
Judging from the size, the woodpecker is larger than the weasel, and has a long beak, but being ridden on the body by the ferret, it is impossible to throw the ferret down, nor can it peck it with the beak, so it has to fly into the air with the ferret, so that the ferret also experiences the pleasure of flying.
However, the shrew was ruthless in the face of its prey, and eventually killed the woodpecker and fell from the air. Woodpeckers become the weasel's belly meal.
In addition, scientists have found that in the process of tracking the weasel, it also climbs trees to pound bird nests and eat bird eggs. For those that incubate their eggs in the nest, the weasel will quickly pounce on them and bite their necks, eating the first, then the eggs.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="26" >04 Domineering counterattack: pecked by a heron, bite back and escape</h1>
It is said that people have lost their hands, horses have lost their hooves, and weasels have suffered times. The ferret went to the water's edge, probably trying to catch a frog or a small fish to taste the fresh, but did not expect to encounter a long-beaked heron.
Herons, which are foraging, instinctively peck at the ferrets with their long beaks. When the ferret reacted, it was already regarded as a prey by the heron, and its small body was picked up by the heron, and it swung its head from side to side, throwing the ferret around.
The weasel is not a good bully, although it has been pecked by the heron and is still clutching at its mouth, but it keeps twisting its body. Fortunately, the body of the ferret was soft and flexible, arched its back, and bit back at the heron, biting on the beak of the heron, and fighting back domineeringly.
At first, the heron did not want to let go, still swinging the weasel, and tried to swallow the ferret. But the weasel also bites the beak of the heron, and at the moment of life, the ferret is more ferocious than usual.
After biting each other for a while, the heron gave up first and let go, really did not expect to encounter such a difficult little thing. As soon as the ferret was free, it ran away quickly.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="32" > conclusion</h1>
Although the larger the body, the greater the power, but the smaller the shrew should not be underestimated. The shrew evolved a petite and soft body, and the hair would change color with the change of seasons, just to adapt to the environment and be more conducive to hunting.
Xuelinggu Nature Lab/Production
References: Beijing Window of Science Popularization Network, Life Science Network, National Zoological Museum, Wildscreen