The Tarim Basin is surrounded by the Tianshan Mountains, the Kunlun Mountains, the Pamir Plateau, and the Taklamakan Desert at its center. Speaking of the Taklamakan Desert, words like barren and vast immediately come to mind, a place known as the "Sea of Death", but there are still some wild animals who are "not afraid of death" living here.
It's no surprise that reptiles thrive in the vast desert, of course, but the researchers found that there was a very small bird running through the desert, which was really surprising. This bird is called the white-tailed ground crow, which is not good at flying, but can easily run on quicksand.
According to Ma Ming, a researcher at the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xinjiang is the birthplace of the genus Ground Crow, and 2 of the four species of ground crows in the world are distributed in China, that is, the white-tailed ground crow and the black-tailed ground crow.
The white-tailed ground crow, also known as the sand maw and desert bird, has a very narrow distribution area, limited to the Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim Basin, so it is also called "Tarim Crow" or "Tarim Desert Crow".
In 1874, John F. Kennedy, England. In the low jungle north of the Bachu region of Xinjiang, Bidalf found this bird shaped like a jay, with a white tail, which was named the white-tailed ground crow.
According to people's daily news, humans have found that the white-tailed ground crow has been decreasing in number for more than 100 years, with less than 7,000 existing ones, and it is listed as an "endangered bird species in the world".
They have poor flight ability and do not have the habit of large-scale migration, and are resident birds. The Taklamakan Desert is the only habitat of the white-tailed ground crow, a bird endemic to China, which often moves in the soft, flowing desert, and also enjoys the desert hinterland and the edge of the desert oasis.
However, the Taklamakan Desert has a harsh environment, with high winds and sand, high temperatures and large temperature differences, with temperatures as low as minus 30 °C in January and as high as 48 °C above zero in July, while surface temperatures can exceed 70 °C. How does the white-tailed crow survive in such an environment in such a climate?
The white-tailed ground crow is a small bird of the genus Raven family, weighing 102–140 g and measuring 267–312 mm long. Whether male or female, it is the same body shape, the same body color.
The white-tailed crow has lived in the vast desert for a long time, and there are traces of desert tempering all over the body, and it also has some "magic weapons" for survival. The white-tailed ground jay has developed a series of traits adapted to the desert environment over the course of evolutionary history.
First of all, in addition to the tail is white, there are black and white spots on the wings, the white-tailed ground crow's full body feathers are mainly sand brown, the color is very close to the desert, plus it is small, running in the desert, it is difficult to find. The white-tailed ground jay uses its protective color to avoid predators.
You look at it, the little man in the desert, almost like a jumping elf. There is a handful of black feathers on the top of the head, forming a wide and short crown draped over the pillow, as if wearing a black crown, which is very eye-catching.
Secondly, the white-tailed crow's wings are short and somewhat rounded, and it is not good at flying, and it is also a low-altitude short-distance flight to fly. But its tarsal feet are long and strong, and it can walk like a fly in the desert.
With its low weight, long toes and large force area, the white-tailed crow can easily run on the quicksand without worrying about getting stuck in the sand and unable to pull out its legs.
Finally, the white-tailed crow's nostrils are larger than those of the average bird, which is conducive to heat dissipation and can withstand drought. In addition, its nostrils are covered with dense feathers, which can block the wind and sand and will not enter the body with the breath.
The vast desert is already very desolate, what do the white-tailed crows eat? Studies have shown that scarab beetles, moth beetles, weevils, pseudo-walkers and golden needle worms can all become its food. At the same time, it also eats plant fruits, seeds, reed leaves, etc., and is an omnivorous bird.
For the white-tailed crow, foraging is the most important job of the day. Its black beak is long and curved downwards to form a foraging artifact, the mouth peak, which has the function of digging sand.
When foraging, the white-tailed crow will use its black beak to peck, and many times it needs to stick its mouth into the sand to search for food hidden in the sand.
So, where does it generally forage? Dr. Xu Feng of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has come to the result: the number of white-tailed crows near the highway is more than far away from the road, why is this so?
Because in the desert, it is not easy to find food and shelter, and the edge of the road, especially in the shelter forest, can provide enough food resources and nesting ground for the white-tailed crow.
Food is hard to find, and when the white-tailed crow finds plenty of food, it will store it endlessly. Ma Ming, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, conducted a field expedition and recorded the feeding behavior of white-tailed crows.
When the researchers discarded the broken bun on the side of the road, the alert white-tailed crow was quickly spotted, but it was not in a hurry to eat it, but instead transported the food and buried it in the sand.
However, with the vastness of the desert and no landmarks to refer to, how does the white-tailed crow accurately retrieve what it has buried? The ability of crows to recover buried food through localization and memory is unmatched by many animals.
The white-tailed crow is so clever! Sometimes it inadvertently becomes a messenger for the spread of seeds, and if it buries food eggs, pupae, plant seeds, or fruits, after a period of time, these "foods" may develop into new life.
Although the white-tailed crow likes to run around, it still has to have a fixed nest. They build their nests on red willow bushes, salt spikes and small poplar trees, and occasionally inhabit burrows, hidden and safe, and not directly exposed to the sun.
Although overcoming the harsh climate and environment of the Taklamakan Desert, the white-tailed crow is not quite at ease. The natural enemies of the white-tailed ground crow are mainly birds of prey, and researchers have documented the process of the white-tailed ground crow being attacked by the brown-tailed crow.
Although the nest of the white-tailed crow is in a relatively hidden place, if it is found by predators, it can only "destroy the house and die". At that time, the mother of the white-tailed crow bird came out of the nest, and more than 10 meters away from the nest, the brown-tailed crow was found and immediately issued a warning call.
But it was too late, the brown-tailed eagle flew directly into the nest, swallowed all 3 small white-tailed crows in the nest into the stomach, and then flapped its wings and flew away, simply and neatly. The mother bird was powerless and cried out in sorrow.
The Taklamakan Desert is the only habitat of the white-tailed crow, and there are still many doubts about its research. For example, in the desert, how does the white-tailed crow find water? How can it resist the wind and sand with its small size? When the desert land expresses a high temperature of 70 ° C, how does it survive?
Snow Spirit Valley Animal Lab/Production References: China Wildlife Conservation Association, Nature Magazine, Knowledge is Power Magazine, Chinese Birds, People's Daily