Guangxi is a province rich in animal resources, and there are 149 rare species under national key protection alone, accounting for about 45% of the country. Recently, in the Jiuwanshan National Nature Reserve, rangers found a very rare white-tailed bipod.
At that time, the staff in the process of patrolling, found a large earthworm-shaped animal, thought it was a hook blind snake, so they took a photo, and later after the identification of many experts, it was found that this "big earthworm" is not a hook blind snake at all, but a legendary white-tailed bipedal lizard.
The distribution of the white-tailed bipedal lizard in China is found in Guangxi, and the IUCN rating is near-threatened, while China's rating is vulnerable, indicating that its living conditions are not too bad, and the number is quite optimistic.
But in reality, white-tailed bipedal lizards are very rare, let alone live in the wild, and specimens and photos alone are very rare.
The reason for this is related to their habits, white-tailed bipods mainly live in the mountain soil at an altitude of 200 to 800 meters, hidden underground all year round, and are not easy to be observed.
The white-tailed bipedal lizard looks very much like a large earthworm, and when you look closely, it looks like a hooked blind snake, and when you look at it again, you can see that it is different from the two.
Compared with earthworms, the white-tailed bipedal lizard has obvious scales; compared with the hook blind snake, the tail end of the white-tailed bipedal lizard is jade-white, and the male has flattened fin-like hind limbs on the side, but the hind limbs are very short and cannot be found without careful inspection.
Adult white-tailed bipedal lizards are about fourteen or fifteen centimeters long , with a shiny purple-brown back and a relatively light belly.
Dragons are creatures in mythological stories that do not exist in reality, but the world is so big that some strange-looking animals are often mistaken for dragon cubs.
For example, the external form of the cave salamander is too close to the image of the dragon in Chinese mythology, so in the folk, the cave salamander is considered to be a juvenile dragon from time to time.
Similar to the cave salamander, the male white-tailed bipedal lizard resembles a snake and an earthworm, but differs from the two, and has scales and feet, and is often mistaken for the cub of a dragon.
At present, whether it is domestic or international, the study of white-tailed bipedal lizards is in its infancy, and there is little biological data, mainly because they are hidden underground all year round, rarely active in open areas, even if they go out of the ground, they will soon burrow into the crevices of the rocks, which is difficult to be observed.
What is known is that they can swing left and right like snakes, and the highly degraded hind feet of male white-tailed bipods do not seem to help walk much, and they move in exactly the same way as the footless female white-tailed bipedal lizards.
The white-tailed bipedal lizard is like a snake and like an earthworm, so does it eat meat like a snake, or does it eat organic matter in the soil like an earthworm? Studies have found that white-tailed bipods have small, pointed teeth, suggesting they are meat-eating.
However, it does not prey on some small animals like a snake, but mainly feeds on various common insects.
Because white-tailed bipods live in a dark environment all year round, their eyes have been severely degraded, and they are hidden under the scales of the eyes, and their ability to see is very poor, so the white-tailed bipedal lizard does not rely on vision to feed.
Such a strong species as tigers and lions, due to their super strength, most of them attack instead of defend, and will hardly develop any life-saving tricks. And small animals like the white-tailed bipedal lizard, which has little offensive power, most of them have a set of life-saving skills.
For example, geckos, when encountering danger, can break their tails to escape, and white-tailed bipedal lizards have more than enough, not only can escape with a broken tail like a gecko, but also when encountering danger, they will also take the initiative to "abandon the car to protect the marshal", throw away the less important tail, and save their own lives.
The tail end of the white-tailed bipedal lizard is completely white, which is particularly eye-catching in the dark environment, and people with a little zoological knowledge know that this is a big taboo, because the more conspicuous it is, the more it can attract the attention of predators, but why in the process of species evolution, the white-tailed bipedal lizard did not discard this feature? Turns out its tail has a wonderful use!
When the white-tailed bipedal lizard senses danger, it will lift its tail high and shake slightly, because the white is particularly conspicuous in poorly lit environments, and its tail end naturally becomes the target of predator attack. When the other party bites its tail, the white-tailed bipedal lizard can take advantage of this gap and break its tail to escape quickly.
I have to say that this move to actively "abandon the car to protect the marshal" is really wonderful, because its tail, like the gecko, can grow in the future.
After the discovery of white-tailed bipods in Guangxi, many netizens said that they had seen them in their lives. In fact, the distribution of white-tailed bipedal lizards in the world is limited to Southeast Asia, the distribution range in China is very limited, coupled with their habits, few people in China have seen them, so I have reason to believe that most netizens say "seen", should be hook blind snakes, or really large earthworms, not rare white-tailed bipods.