The story I'm about to tell is probably the most thrilling I've ever had on my journey of exploration. That kind of uncontrollability makes me feel uneasy in retrospect. When we invade the primitive world as a higher creature and with all the arrogance of the eyes, the modern civilization we rely on is more vulnerable than it seems, and this wild world is still an unknown river. Even if the identity of higher creatures is "self-degraded" as a primate, this water is still unfathomable for terrestrial animals, so look at the encounters of our close relatives and distant relatives around us.
It was a day in July 2019, and the guide clumsily drove a dinghy down the Kinabatangan River in Borneo. Calling it a "boat" is actually just a small boat with a motor installed on the stern, and 5 seats on each side of the boat, and I, Lao Xu and 8 other traveling companions from all over the world sit on the boat together.
The upper river safari starts at 6 a.m. every morning. The rainforest is set on both sides of the river, the sun has not yet emerged, and the dense foliage dissolves into two thick greens in the evaporated water vapor of the river, flowing along the river bank into the distance, and then to the periphery. The air full of negative oxygen ions is the shiver of life all night, and when you take a deep breath in this melancholy morning, people immediately get up.
Kinabadang Bank River
When the first rays of sunlight penetrate the gaps in the branches, the rainforest is like being washed and wiped, each leaf is glowing green, and the lush and empty green begins to become three-dimensional. The huge canopy was shining with gold, chirping, and if you looked closely, countless proboscis monkeys were flying between the canopy, like golden meteors streaking across the sky. It's a humble sight, but it makes one wonder what kind of day should be on the river after such a fantastic morning.
Proboscis monkey, endemic to Malaysia
Winding 560 kilometres from the foothills of southwest Sabah to the Sulu sea, the KinabatangAn River runs between Borneo and blends with the deep rainforests that give rise to the world's richest biodiversity, only the Amazon River can match. When she first saw the Kinabadang River, she was yellow and calm. But under the calm, it seems that there is always a certain emotion brewing, inexplicable, but it makes people smell a hysterical meaning.
In an instant, the chorus of proboscis monkeys, long-tailed macaques, and short-tailed macaques mixed with dozens of birds became some kind of urgent and sharp shouting, just like in a symphony, the musicians' instruments were out of tune one by one, and the fingering of the playing began to be chaotic. At this time, the boat suddenly began to accelerate, running wildly on the calm lake. "Stupid, what happened?" A traveling companion asked. "Wait!" Stupid shouted, looking focused, and a little nervous. I looked in the opposite direction, and there seemed to be something floating on the river, and as the aftermath of the boat went up and down, it was in the same direction as the boat. But The clumsy drove so fast that before I could see clearly, the floating objects were gone.
Floating objects on the surface of the river, do you know what it is?
I didn't know how far I drove, but I slowed down stupidly. "Guys, now please pay attention to the front, and don't put your hands out of the boat." After stupidly speaking, he pointed to the river in front of him, only to see a dead piece of wood half floating on the surface. I could not judge its length, but vaguely saw the raised wooden tumor, drifting forward by the current. I'm sure it's the floating object I've just seen—
But wait! That's not the direction of the water flow! That piece of wood—it's alive!
In a trance, I heard a cry of surprise from the boat, fixed my eyes on it, and for a moment, the brain could not analyze the information transmitted back by the optic nerve, only to see a long object across the riverbank, it was at least 3 meters long, gray and yellow, and covered with black and gray spots. Four feet stretched out from the sides of its body, creeping on the mud, motionless, allowing the waves to wash away, showing no sign of life. The yellow-green eyes located on either side of the head show that it is a huge creature. The distribution of two raised ridges extends from the inside of both eyes to the long snout, and the tight midline of the upper and lower jaws reveals sharp teeth. When I saw the obvious gap between its neck scales and its back armor, the driftwood just now, and the stupid sudden acceleration, all of which pointed to a creature —
Estuarine crocodile!
Bay crocodile
Since the Late Miocene, this terrifying creature has existed in this form in the world, dominating the top of the food chain for tens of millions of years. As the largest crocodile in the world, the male bay crocodile can reach up to 6 meters in length and weigh more than 1 ton. The skull of the bay crocodile provides a huge amount of space for its developed jaw muscles, and the jaw muscles of the bay crocodile are as hard as bone, as if it is an extension of the skull, which gives it the strongest bite force on the surface of 1673 kg (laboratory force measurements, the object is a 4.59 meter bay crocodile). Their recipes are so varied that this crocodile can even swim into the sea, hence the name saltwater crocodile. This is undoubtedly the most ferocious creature in the world.
From the rivers and swamps of India all the way to the northern coast of Australia, monkeys, wild boars, birds, bats... Even bull sharks and humans have been reduced to food for bay crocodiles. The bay crocodile ambushes its prey in the water, dragging it into the water and drowning. Small prey swallows directly, while larger prey tears up their prey by tumbling violently in the water. Any animal that dares to break into its territory is likely to be attacked by bay crocodiles, including its kind. When a bird or bat approaches the surface of the water, the bay crocodile can use its limbs and tail to simultaneously exert force, pushing the huge body out of the water with amazing force, and taking a bite in the air, like a dragon in a legendary waterhole. Compared to winged dragons, the fluttering pair of birds or bats is just a decoration.
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The bay crocodile moved suddenly, and at the same time it took diagonal front and rear limbs, its thick tail twisting left and right, burrowing into the water, turning into a half-floating log swimming rapidly toward our boat, and the muddy water became its best cover. Looking around, there are many "logs" floating on the river. Overhead, monkeys are restless in the woods. The bay crocodiles floated in the river, waiting, waiting for the monkeys who had carelessly fallen into the water, and of course, us on the boat.