Middle-aged friends in Hunan and Jiangxi should be very kind when they hear the name "dog snake", which is also called four-legged snake, pig snake, dog hair snake and so on in some places. In fact, its scientific name is Chinese Shilongzi, which only exists in China and is distributed in many provinces such as Hunan, Jiangxi, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Guangdong. Although it has a snake in its alias, it has nothing to do with snakes, and is a genus of scutellators in the order Phylloscopus reptiles.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > childhood plaything dog snake</h1>
Now that there is a mobile phone and the Internet, everyone's hobby is highly unified: playing with mobile phones. But at that time, we did not have mobile phones, Murakami did not have a network, everything around us can become a plaything, a source of happiness, the dog snake is one of them, accompanied me through many happy summers.
The dog snake has a pointed head, a bit like a snake, and a small one is also like a loach, but the difference is that it has four more legs, and some of the fatter dog snakes look very cute. When I was a child, there were a lot of dogs and snakes, and in the summer, they would appear in paddy fields, ditches, vegetable fields, and sometimes shuttle on the road, but it was very timid, and when it saw people, it ran, and it was quite fast and difficult to catch up.
Chinese stone dragon and its eggs
Finding a dog snake and then everyone going together to surround it is a very happy memory of childhood, sometimes everyone will take a hoe, in the paddy field and grass to find holes, after digging the hole, sometimes there will be dog snake hiding in it, and luck will have a few eggs.
Although it looks like a snake, rural children know that it does not bite people, and it is not poisonous, and after catching it, everyone often likes to tie it up with a rope and walk it like a dog. Sometimes there are more catches, and one person will be tied with a rope, and they will be pulled up and raced.
When I was a child, I also had a hobby of fishing for frogs, but I often caught snakes. Dog snake is an omnivore, generally to earthworms, locusts, rat women, cockroaches, etc. for food, of course, small frogs also eat, when the small frog tied up to catch large frogs, often there will be dog snakes on the hook. Because the dog snake is heavier than the average frog, so as soon as the rod is pulled up, it is not a frog, and after finding out that it is a dog snake, it will be thrown into the sky and the fishing rod will be rotated until it is thrown away, which is very fun.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > will survive in case of danger</h1>
The dog snake is a suborder of lizards, and lizards actually have an instinct to "survive with a broken tail". When they are bitten by the tail or in danger, they will cut off their tails to attract the attention of the enemy and take the opportunity to escape, which is a way of partial sacrifice to preserve the whole.
Severed-tailed dog snake
When I was a child, I often found that its tail was broken when I caught the dog, and at first I thought it was broken by myself, but later I learned that it was broken by myself, which is called "self-cutting" in zoology. Because the tailbone of lizards is not a whole, but has a smooth joint surface that connects the first half and the second half.
Once in danger, they can shake their bodies violently and save themselves by forcefully contracting their muscles and breaking the tail vertebrae at the junction. However, their tails have a strong regenerative function, and the dog snake usually grows a perfect tail in about 4 months.
In fact, many animals in nature will adopt this survival strategy, such as sea urchins will spit out their own internal organs when they encounter danger, salamanders will amputate limbs, and crabs and lobsters will clip one of their own pliers to protect themselves.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > is becoming more and more rare, and has become a national protected animal</h1>
Grill stone dragons
In addition to fun, many places also like to make it into a dish to eat, especially in the Liangguang area, like to use the dog snake to make barbecue, steaming, soup, and even chopped up to make pies and dumplings.
The medicinal value of the dog snake is also very high, which is conducive to water drainage, broken knots and stasis, detoxification effect, can be used to treat stone shower, fistula, urinary disadvantage, malignancy, ulcers, sores and so on.
Delicious food, great supplementation, and ability to cure diseases are the three taboos that no living thing can make on the earth, but the dog and the snake are all guilty. Therefore, the number of dog snakes has decreased sharply in recent years, and it is difficult to see them again when returning to the countryside. Because the existing number can no longer meet the consumption rate of human beings, many people have begun to breed dogs and snakes artificially, and the market price of dry goods has reached three to four hundred and one pounds, which can be said to be very expensive.
Conclusion:
Because the number of people is decreasing too quickly, Shilongzi has been included in the list of three protected animals and the list of low-risk species in the "Red List of Biodiversity of China - Vertebrate Volume", and cannot be traded or harmed at will, otherwise it will be punished by law.
It is hard to imagine that the dogs and snakes that brought us so much happiness when we were young are now low-risk protected animals, hoping that humans and nature can live in harmony, do not kill the animals for a little economic benefit, otherwise, will one day, humans will need to put themselves on the list of endangered animals?