In the countryside, in addition to locusts, there is another bug that farmers also hate, and it is - Malu. For the little friends living in the countryside, everyone in Malu may not be surprised, after all, it has a unique talent for destroying crops and is also very good to feed, so this bug can be found almost everywhere in the countryside.
However, in recent years, this guy's figure has gradually disappeared from the public eye, where did Ma Lu go?
Is it extinct?
The origin of Ma Lu
Ma Lu is also called a millipede, the so-called "worm as its name", its legs and feet are so large that dense phobia patients are persuaded one after another, although it looks a bit like a centipede, but the body length is much more terrifying than the centipede.
The general horse land body length is about 10-30 cm, and the longest can only grow to 38 cm, but the giant horse land in ancient times can actually reach three meters in length, and the legs can reach up to 1306, which is estimated to be the peak of the insect kingdom.
If this giant horse land is still alive, it is estimated that there will be many murders, which is creepy to think about!
As one of the arthropods, metamorphosis development is the only way for Ma Lu to grow up. Its feet are not so many at birth, but through continuous metamorphosis to increase the body segment, so that the number of feet will also increase.
The horse is dark brown, only the back and sides of the limbs are reddish yellow, and its feet are very dense and short, crawling like a small train, with a hint of funny.
They usually prefer to stay in moist soil or leaf litter piles and feed on humus food. Although this guy looks physically uncomfortable, fortunately, its aggression is not as strong as that of centipedes, and their way of survival is mainly defensive.
Once disturbed, they will immediately curl up into a "spiral", showing a state of suspended animation, and if provoked, they will release their ultimate weapon, releasing stench.
You heard it right, Ma Lu's body segments have smelly glands that quickly secrete a stinky venom.
Although this venom is not toxic, if you encounter people with allergies, redness, swelling, itching and other symptoms after being infected with this venom are inevitable, and once you accidentally touch the eyes, temporary blindness may occur.
In addition, if you trample it to death, you will hear a crisp sound, that is, its odor glands burst, and then the unpleasant smell is difficult to eliminate in a few days, even if you rinse with water, it can not be completely removed, so people often say, encounter horse land to take a detour, do not provoke it.
Because its stench is so strong, many poultry in the countryside can not avoid even if they see such a delicacy, so in this case, there are not many natural enemies of Malu.
In addition, the reproductive ability of horses is also very strong. On average, each adult horse can lay 300 eggs, and the larvae take only 20 days to hatch, and the survival rate is extremely high, so this is an important reason why the species can continue from thousands of years ago to today.
Strangely, horses that used to be found at any time in farmland or in stone crevices are now rarely seen in the countryside, and it stands to reason that in the case of sufficient food and no natural predators, their breeding numbers should be more, why is it that now not only the number has not increased, but has also decreased?
Precious Chinese medicinal materials
Ma Lu can't be completely blamed for this, after all, it has evolved into such an ugly state, but it is still difficult to escape the fate of being captured by humans.
Ma Lu also has another name in the north, called "Qian Kuzi", and when you hear it, you know that this guy is worth a lot. In fact, it is a precious Chinese medicinal herb like centipede, with the effect of clearing heat and detoxifying and reducing swelling, so more and more people have joined the ranks of catching Ma Lu, hoping to make a small profit.
As a result, many Ma Lu may have become a medicinal herb in a Chinese medicine store before he was a minor, and ended his worm life early.
Maybe even Ma Lu himself can't think of it, he has calculated everything, but after all, he can't escape the clutches of humans.
Even if the breeding speed of horse land is fast, it is still not able to withstand the speed of human capture, and in this way, the number of horse land becomes more and more rare, and sometimes even a horse land cannot be found at all.
In this case, people seem to have found a way of wealth in the horse land, since the wild horse land can not meet the market demand, then began to artificially breed the horse land, and the price of the horse land is also in the market more and more speculated, becoming a tool for people to make profits.
Of course, they are not just caught as Chinese medicinal herbs, don't forget, they also have another identity, that is, the "culprit" that plagues farmers' crops.
"Driven to extinction" by humans
For most of my farmer friends, Malu is a very destructive pest. In addition to eating humus food, young roots and seedlings of crops are also their favorite.
And this guy likes to live in groups, once he comes out to forage, like a large wave of zombies dispatching, he can gnaw the crops that farmers have worked hard to grow at once, resulting in a large-scale reduction in grain production.
Therefore, in order to eliminate Malu, the peasants tried everything they could. In addition to being caught and sold by some discerning people, the rest will be directly executed.
Farmers spray pesticides in places frequented by Malu, and when Malu encounters these chemicals, they will die, so the number of Malu is even rarer.
In addition, because Ma Lu likes to live in a dark and humid environment, many people in order to avoid Ma Lu climbing into their doors, will sprinkle some quicklime around their homes, they cannot survive in a dry environment, so more and more Malu begin to shift positions, and even some larvae die in the process of migration.
So, for Malu, humans may be their biggest natural enemies.
At last:
In general, Ma Lu's life is bumpy, in fact, it never takes the initiative to attack people, is a gentle creature, but the so-called "insect red right and wrong" after all, still can not escape the fate of arrest and killing.
Although for farmers, it is a pest that destroys crops, in fact, they also play an important role in nature, if this species is really extinct, then the ecological balance of nature will be broken, and then it will still eat back to humans.
Therefore, the decrease in the number of horses is actually a warning, warning us that human beings should no longer interfere excessively in the ecology, but also warn us that we should protect nature well, for horses as long as they are driven away, there is no need to kill them all, after all, it is also a major contributor to nature, don't love and don't hurt!
Author: Eat La Xiaozheng