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Similar in appearance, but very different in fate, the gap between the western and common wild boars is really surprising, compared to the global flood of wild boars that need special management, the western wild boar in the Americas has enjoyed artificial conservation measures, some species have been listed as endangered.
However, due to the similarity of the two appearances, the West Monkey is often mistaken for a wild boar, both of which have short limbs and large heads, but although both creatures are artiodactyls, one is the West Monkey family and the other is a pig family.
If we want to equate these two, it is similar to putting a tiger and a cat together, although we call the tiger a big cat, but in fact there is an essential difference between the two, and the same is true of the Xiyi and the wild boar.
As for why the two belong to the same artiodactyl pig shape, in fact, the degree of differentiation is not deep enough, from the perspective of evolution, we can find that they have the same ancestor, but in natural selection went to different paths.
At the beginning, it was not an exclusive species in the Americas, but lived widely in Western Europe and the Americas, but the Xiyu in Western Europe could not adapt to the changes in the environment and finally went extinct, and only the American Xiyu survived.
The problem is that many people do not have enough knowledge of animals to accurately distinguish between the two animals, so there is a situation where Xiyu and wild boar are grouped together, in fact, if we can observe more closely, it is still easy to distinguish.
The biggest difference between Xiyi and wild boar is the size problem, Xiyi is one size smaller than wild boar, and sometimes it is only half the size of wild boar, so if you see a smaller wild boar in the Americas, it should be Xiyi instead of wild boar.
In addition, Xiyi relies on smell to transmit messages, they often rub the scent glands they carry against trees, so as to delimit the territory range, once other animals appear, it will judge the identity of the other party according to the smell, to see if it is friend or foe.
A more obvious feature is that compared to the very obvious fangs of the wild boar, we will find that the teeth of the Xiyu are not obvious, which is also the difference between the two creatures, the teeth of the wild boar grow outward, and the final manifestation is the curved fangs.
But Xiyi is obviously not like this, its teeth grow straight, and finally bite together up and down, but even so, Xiyi's bite force can easily bite many nuts, no worse than the fangs of wild boars.
Of course, Xiyi is less aggressive than wild boars, because although they are omnivorous, Xiyi is a species with a clear dietary bias, whether it is from the physiological structure or thinking tendencies, Xiyi chooses to eat more vegetarian.
Only in a few cases will the Xiyi hunt small animals, but wild boars obviously do not have this idea, as omnivores, wild boars are equal to vegetarian diets, and these differences make a difference in the danger of encountering them.
From the territorial consciousness can also be seen in their personality differences, Xiyi is a social animal, in the face of danger, there is a high probability that they will choose to self-sacrifice to cover their companions to escape, so, Xiyi is a species with a sense of teamwork.
But the wild boar is different, it has a strong sense of territory, even if it is also a social species, it will not allow wild boars other than family members to set foot in their territory, from which it can be seen that wild boars actually have a blood bias, not a sense of teamwork.
The reason for the similarity in appearance between the West and the wild boar is actually because of the problem of natural selection, after the extinction of the West in Western Europe, the West in the Americas has become a unique species, and the wild boar and the West in the same environment naturally encounter the same choice.
Although each species has its own unique thinking about evolution, the similarity of the two poses similar challenges, and in the end, Xiyu and wild boar make similar efforts, but because of their own physiological structure, there are slight differences.
Wild boars have been recognized as an environmental disaster due to their long history, and farmers living near their habitats are resistant to this creature, because once a wild boar appears in the field, it is basically equivalent to a state of semi-destruction.
As for Xiyi, the Animal Association's attitude towards it is completely different, and the grassland is clearly marked as an endangered species, and hunting is prohibited.
However, the reason why Xiyi encountered such a predicament is that human beings have an unshirkable responsibility, because Xiyi's fur can be made into gloves and clothes, so a large number of hunters hunt Xiyi, causing their numbers to plummet, and finally become an endangered species.
Therefore, our protection of Xiyi is actually out of making up for the ecological environment, hoping to create a harmonious atmosphere between man and nature, and also hoping that there will be no more situations similar to Xiyi in the future.
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