<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="1" > how bold humans were to try to raise close relatives of dinosaurs</h1>
In August 2021, photographer Randall captured a stunning scene on the shores of Lake Tifriessee in Germany, where a wild boar with cubs snatched his backpack from a dude who was sunbathing. With a laptop in his bag, the dude chased after three wild boars naked and finally regained his belongings (the pizza in the bag was eaten by the piglets).
The German wild boar is a ferocious animal, with a gun may not be able to get it, this dare to imitate Xu Chu's naked war horse super one-on-three, Randall is greatly impressed by the courage of this person, if it is not rich enough in German, perhaps it will be said that "the red rabbit in the lübu horse among the people" such an evaluation.
Two days ago, I went to the China Exploration Association and discussed a question with my friends there - with the advancement of science and technology, have humans become braver, or have they become more cautious?
It seems that this old man who hunted down wild boar naked provided a good argument for the square.
However, if you look at what ancient humans did, you will find that the higher primates of that time were even more crazy.
According to a paper published in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on September 27, 2021, scientists have just doubled the amount of time humans spend raising poultry. Previously, people's understanding of this problem was that humans began to raise chickens 9800 years ago. However, Christine Douglas, a scholar at Pennsylvania State University who published the paper, based on her own research, believes that this time limit can be raised to 18,000 years ago, in Papua New Guinea.
Her team investigated two sites of early human life in the area and found about 1,000 bird egg fragments at the site, a considerable part of which are shown to have been left over from natural hatching. This suggests that humans who lived here at the time would collect the eggs, bring them back to their living areas, and hatch them, thus proving that they already had the practice of raising poultry.
It is gratifying to have new scientific discoveries, but the problem is that when Christina studied what kind of poultry the ancients raised at that time belonged to, it was still a bit incredible - the first poultry raised by humans turned out to be a large walking bird, which was extremely close to the blood of the dinosaurs, very fierce, and was called "the most dangerous bird in the world".
Commonly known as the "cassowarman", the crane ostrich is also known as the "killing bird" because of its fierceness and bad attacks on humans.
In fact, the Latin name "Casuarius" of the crane ostrich is a literal translation, perhaps called "scary bird" more appropriately, which is also very much in line with its personality.
Crane ostrich, living in the primary forests of New Guinea Island and Australia, adult birds can reach 1.8 meters tall, weigh 150-160 pounds, its head has a crown for receiving sound waves, the feathers are tough, some feathers have a strong color effect, the forelimbs are degenerate, the hind limbs are developed, they are good at running, and their temperament is fierce. In the area where it lives, there is no vertebrate taller than it.
It is not an empty phrase to say that the crane ostrich is related to dinosaurs by blood, and it has a greater degree of similarity with the long-extinct oviraptorosaur in appearance and behavior, and birds are developed from small theropod dinosaurs close to oviraptorosaurs.
The crane ostrich is one of the more primitive birds, its sternum is underdeveloped, and its bones are bulky, reflecting that it had no intention of flying into the sky since the age of dinosaurs. In terms of blood relations, it is closely related to two other extinct birds.
The first is the moa that has lived in New Zealand for a long time, but the moa, although taller, has a gentle temperament, unlike the grumpy crane ostrich.
The second is the dinosaur crane (terror bird) that once dominated after the demise of the dinosaurs, and the animal that exists closest to its bloodline is the crane ostrich, both of which are extremely powerful.
The crane ostrich has three huge toes on its feet and fingernails up to 10 centimeters long, which together with its sharp beak form its powerful attack weapon. Its best trick is to run at 50 kilometers per hour, jump vertically during a fight (reaching a height of 1.5 meters), and then tear apart the opponent's body with its claws.
The attack method of the crane ostrich is usually to jump up and take out the barbs in unison, and then force it to use its claws and beak to kill the opponent.
Crane ostriches kill people from time to time. The latest news record was this year, when a reared crane ostrich killed its owner in Florida, USA. Zoo crews usually bring shields to meet cranes and ostriches to fend off its surprise attacks.
Such a dangerous thing, how could the ancients think of raising it? This is not much different from the difficulty of raising tigers.
Considering that such a sinister and vicious thing as a wolf has been domesticated by people, domesticating cranes and ostriches is not a completely unacceptable option.
Research by Christina et al. suggests that the ancients of New Guinea may have domesticated the crane ostrich by taking advantage of its "first acquaintance" characteristics. Crane ostriches and some animals have a common feature, that is, they will open their eyes to see the first life form, whether it is their mother or Erha as their masters. Therefore, as long as it is allowed to see itself when it breaks out of its shell, the crane ostrich will follow its owner more loyally than a dog. And it is mainly vegetarian, although the difficulty of breeding is no less than that of tigers, as long as the breeder can save his life, the cost of breeding is not very high.
At this moment, we can't help but think of Mr. Jin Yong's divine eagle that accompanied Yang Guo in martial arts training: "The body is very huge, taller than a person, the shape is extremely ugly, the feathers of the whole body are sparse and scattered, as if it has been plucked out of half, the fur is yellow and black, it looks very dirty, and the appearance is also five points similar to the double eagle on Peach Blossom Island, but the ugly handsome is far away." This ugly eagle has a curved beak and a large blood-red sarcoma on the top of its head, and there are thousands of birds in the world, and I have never seen such an ancient and majestic bird of prey. But seeing this eagle striding around, his legs were very thick, sometimes stretching out his wings, but he was very short, he didn't know how to fly, just looked up and took a big stride, and he had a mighty spirit. ”
This makes people wonder whether Yang Guo encountered a giant crane or an ostrich or its relatives. If the New Guineans domesticated the crane ostrich to use it as a hunting dog, it must be very effective, if they domesticated the crane ostrich to practice martial arts... Oops, the question of the bloodline of the lonely and defeated predecessors is probably on the agenda.
The real situation may be far less legendary, judging from the bones found at the scene, the crane ostrich raised by the ancient New Guineans did not grow to adulthood, mainly for food (the meat of the crane ostrich is said to be very delicious). The reason for this can be guessed from the breeding situation of this animal in today's zoo - the crane ostrich is simple in mind and stressful, so even if it is tamed by the owner, once the owner has unexpected actions, it may prompt it to make a reflexive response to the battle, causing tragedy.
The latest crane ostrich murder case in the United States was finally judged to be caused by the owner's accidental fall, and the crane ostrich was frightened and launched an attack. The adult crane ostrich has a strong sense of territory, and when the six relatives do not recognize it during the estrus period, it is even more difficult to continue to breed - after all, this thing can grow up to more than two meters, and it is not a good choice to fight with it.
This may also be the reason why attempts to raise crane ostriches only exist in this particular area and ultimately fail, after all, the risk of keeping each crane ostrich has to go to the adult crane ostrich to steal eggs is still too great.
Ancient New Guinean crafts made from the claws of cranes and ostriches.
In any case, since the first person to try to eat crabs is worthy of admiration, the first person to try to raise cranes and ostriches should also be admired! Let's give the old crane ostrich keeper a thumbs up, at least, it's a brave foodie.
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