Chapter 105: The Outstanding Dancer, the Black-billed Grouse, 55 Million Years Old in Amber! ()

Wang Zhibin smiled awkwardly and said, "I'm afraid there won't be any bonus this time, but we can give you a little money as a token of our appreciation."

"It's okay, netizens are just asking out of curiosity. How can we talk about money in everything?"

Su Ran knew very well that unless the public security department set up a special reward, there would only be some honorary rewards in other cases.

And Su Ran is just fulfilling his obligations.

"If there is any new progress in the case, I will contact you in time."

After thanking Su Ran again, Wang Zhibin followed the team down the mountain.

People from the provincial animal protection institute who had previously received Su Ran also arrived.

Seeing Deng Jiaying coming over, Su Ran opened his backpack and took out the windbreaker wrapped with the armadillo.

"The little ones are all here."

Deng Jiaying put on rubber gloves and put four armadillos into the cage with her colleagues.

Then he looked at the pangolin family huddled together timidly behind him and said with a smile, "Then let's release these six pangolins right where they are."

"Ah."

Su Ran stepped forward and comforted the frightened pangolin: "Okay, the bad guys have been driven away. Now you can reunite as a family and find a new home."

In order to prevent her child from being harmed by the outside world, the pangolin mother held it in her arms.

After sensing that there was no danger nearby, he gently loosened the claws that were holding his head a little.

Su Ran's breath made them feel familiar and safe.

The two pangolins immediately lifted their defensive stance.

Under the camera, the newborn pangolin is pink and transparent, only the size of a mouse, and is born with soft scales.

These slices will gradually become harder and stronger as they grow.

This is why pangolins don’t get hurt by their cubs’ scales when giving birth.

Newborn cubs cannot use their legs to walk and can only move slowly forward using their bellies.

The four little guys crawled to Su Ran's feet, as if they thought he was their mother.

After all, one should do one's best and help the Buddha to the west. Su Ran helped the pangolin family find a cave abandoned by the badger.

"Okay, this will be your new home from now on." Su Ran said.

Deng Jiaying, wearing woodland boots and a black windbreaker, was looking at the pangolin family with a doting look on her face.

The pangolin babies are very attached to their mother. The four little ones were seen climbing onto their mother's back and tail in an orderly manner.

Pangolins carry their cubs on their backs wherever they go.

The cub grabbed the scales and was enjoying himself.

Mother’s back is its kindergarten and its elementary school.

It was also on its mother's back that it got to know the wind, the grass and trees, the sunshine and rain, and the stars at night.

This scene was extremely heartwarming for the audience.

I also became more aware of the great contribution Su Ran has made.

"If it weren't for Brother Su, we probably wouldn't have seen such a happy scene of the pangolin family."

Therefore, on the way back, Deng Jiaying was particularly grateful to Su Ran.

In fact, not all the people who stay in Su Ran’s live broadcast room every day are ordinary netizens.

Many scientific research institutions and animal and plant experts are paying close attention.

Every new discovery made by Su Ran will bring about many research directions.

"I used to watch your daily interactions with Mantou, and used this to gain a deeper understanding of the personality and living habits of the albino Siberian tiger, so that I could write an academic paper on the subject."

Deng Jiaying said happily at this time.

Su Ran smiled awkwardly and said, "That's probably not accurate. After all, this is because Mantou has always stayed by my side. If there were really Siberian tigers living in the wild, they might not be as stupid as Mantou."

Looking at Su Ran's straightforward expression, Deng Jiaying smiled and said, "It still has some reference value."

On the way, Su Ran occasionally answered some of Deng Jiaying's questions, and he would also pick mushrooms and wild vegetables he encountered along the way.

Su Ran picked a bunch of monkey leg vegetables and waved them at Deng Jiaying: "Have you ever eaten this kind of wild vegetable? It tastes very good."

Deng Jiaying gladly took it.

“This is bracken.”

Although he is the director of the research institute, Deng Jiaying only knows more about animals.

But she was right.

"Well, in the Northeast, this thing is called monkey leg plant, a fern plant that is very similar to bracken in appearance."

“But there are also quite a few leaves growing on the stem, and the top is more like a round ball, which looks very pretty.”

Su Ran's detailed explanation surprised Deng Jiaying a lot.

At first, Su Ran gave people the impression of being an ordinary villager, but it was unexpected that he had such a wide range of knowledge in animals and plants.

Under Deng Jiaying's extremely respectful gaze, Su Ran contentedly packed several kilograms of monkey leg vegetables into the bag.

"In Northeast China, monkey leg vegetables are often eaten as ginseng, and can be sold for about 70 yuan per kilogram."

Su Ran was very happy to earn a few hundred dollars.

He pointed to a bush ahead and said, "There are more there."

When Su Ran walked through the bushes, he suddenly pulled Deng Jiaying aside.

He even gestured to other staff members to keep quiet.

"What's wrong, Su Ran?" Deng Jiaying asked puzzledly while hiding behind a tree.

Su Ran pointed to an open larch forest ahead and said, "Look, the most beautiful free-range chickens are courting."

Deng Jiaying's gaze followed the tens of thousands of eyes behind the camera and saw a creature that looked very much like a peacock spreading its feathers to attract the attention of other peacocks in the larch forest.

The audience was immediately attracted by this beautiful free-range chicken.

I couldn't help but exclaim.

"Wow, it's so beautiful. Is this a little peacock? It can even spread its tail."

“It looks good, but I don’t know how to cook it.”

"I guess it's similar to how you cook prison food."

"I remember seeing it in the elementary school textbook 'The Master of the Great Forest'. This should be the flying dragon in the forest. I was envious when I read the textbook when I was a kid."

"The flying dragon is a hazel grouse," Deng Jiaying recognized it at a glance and said seriously, "What we are seeing now is a black-billed grouse, a first-class protected animal in the country, and it is on the verge of extinction."

Under the lens,

This handsome male black-billed grouse performs a unique courtship dance to win the favor of a female.

It lifts up its black tail like a peacock spreading its tail.

The tail is divided into two layers of color, a larger layer of black feathers in the front and a relatively smaller layer of white feathers in the back.

It also shakes its tail from time to time, which should be a sexy show-off.

"It's really beautiful."

"It's OK, but a little worse than the Green-tailed Pheasant, which is the most beautiful bird."

"Is it the peacock who cheated, or is it the mandarin duck who had an affair?"

"It looks so fat. I am crying with greed."

The barrage suddenly became lively.

While the black-billed grouse dances, it raises its head and calls.

The sound is very unique, like the sound of popcorn popping.

It's a bit like someone is constantly typing on a mechanical keyboard.

"Does this thing know that it is a protected animal? It keeps barking." "It has a built-in mechanical keyboard."

"The green-tailed rainbow pheasant is indeed beautiful," Su Ran took out the camera and started to take pictures, "but the black-billed grouse is also very precious. It is a bird panda in the pheasant family, just like the green-tailed rainbow pheasant."

Su Ran was very excited to be able to capture a clear photo of the black-billed grouse:
"This grouse should have started calling since daytime."

"They are the most solitary performers, and if the female black-billed grouse don't show up, they can keep performing like this every day."

"The longest black-billed grouse's mating dance can last for forty days!"

"If you don't have faith in your heart, it would be really hard to persevere in such a marathon performance."
-
There are more and more barrages in the live broadcast room.

Everyone was also enjoying the grouse's mating dance.

As an outstanding performing artist of nature, it gives people a very wonderful feeling and attracts much attention.

"However, this way of courtship by black-billed grouse is extremely risky," Deng Jiaying said worriedly.

Sure enough, the female bird was not seen, but a sable that had come out to look for food came upon hearing the noise.

Sables are usually seen in winter, but they also come out in the spring to look for food.

Then you can enjoy the beautiful scenery of spring.

But it was lucky today. While enjoying the scenery, it also met a fat grouse.

The moment it saw the black-billed grouse, the sable's eyes on the branches lit up.

"Damn, this guy is greedy."

"Don't talk about it. I would be greedy too."

"Brother Su, your live broadcast is so exciting!"

The sable climbed down from the tree and quietly approached the black-billed grouse engaged in its courtship dance.

Perhaps because it was too focused on dancing, the black-billed grouse did not notice it.

"It's bad. The grouse will be eaten by the sable before it even gets into my pot."

As the sable is also a first-class protected animal, Deng Jiaying and Su Ran tacitly watched and recorded its normal hunting from the sidelines.

However, in order to calm the audience's nervousness, Su Ran smiled and said, "Don't worry, if I really don't have any skills, would I dare to attract the opposite sex in such a blatant way?"

Just as the sable was about to deliver the fatal blow, the black-billed grouse easily flapped its wings and escaped.

And the sable yawned in annoyance.

Hunting in nature is so exciting and interesting.

Netizens watched it with gusto.

It was even as if they had just escaped from the mouth of a sable.

Su Ran said cheerfully: "The sable knew that it would never find a suitable opportunity again."

"Because of this attack, the black-billed grouse have become more cautious."

As Su Ran said, even if the black-tailed grouse just changes its performance location nearby, it will start to pay attention to the surrounding environment.

Otherwise, you will lose your life, let alone get married and have children.

And because of its persistence, or perhaps it was just luck.

Or maybe even God didn't want Su Ran and hundreds of thousands of spectators to just wait.

A female black-billed grouse finally appeared on the branch.

The female black-billed grouse left netizens a little disappointed.

Because as the camera focused, it looked like an ordinary pheasant.

Su Ran patiently explained to netizens that in the animal kingdom, especially birds.

Females are often not as pretty as males.

If possible, males would even prefer to evolve a plain appearance like females.

But in order to attract females during courtship, they can only evolve a more colorful appearance that is more attractive to their own kind.

But this also means that males are more vulnerable to attacks by natural enemies.

Therefore, for this reason, females responsible for reproduction, in order to avoid being attacked by natural enemies, usually have a more monotonous appearance, which is conducive to better blending with the environment and hiding.

Nature is so magical.

Biodiversity is always a process of coordination and trade-offs.

This is a godsend for male black-billed grouse.

As the saying goes, once missed, opportunity never comes back.

Under the gaze of the female black-billed grouse, the rooster danced even harder.

On the branch, the female black-billed grouse seemed to have identified this mate.

Flying down from the branch.

Then, the audience saw, under the camera, two black-billed grouse began to perform a double bird dance.

The call from nature guided the two birds to begin their performance.

The wings flapped gently and the body swayed gracefully.

The audience held their breath and watched every move of the two black-billed grouse intently.

They seemed to be having a silent conversation, sometimes dancing gracefully, sometimes chasing each other. Their dance steps were coordinated and smooth, as if they were the result of countless rehearsals.

Every spin and every jump reveals their natural sense of rhythm and love of dance.

This scene is not just a visual feast.

It is a touch of the soul.

The audience was deeply attracted by the tacit cooperation and superb dancing skills of the two black-billed grouse.

It seems to be brought into a peaceful and harmonious natural world, and feel the perfect integration with nature.

After the dance, the male black-billed grouse's pairing is confirmed.

The audience was delighted.

"Luckily the blind date went through, otherwise I don't know how many more days this guy would have to sing here."

With a girlfriend, the male black-billed grouse happily flew a circle in the air.

"Although they have two large, round wings, the black-billed grouse's flying ability is not very good. They can only flap their wings and fly up to the branches, but usually cannot fly above the crown of a large tree."

Su Ran said, however, this is enough for the highly vigilant black-billed grouse. When they go to a place to find food or play, they will fly a small circle like this to observe the movements on the ground.

But just now Su Ran seemed to notice that there seemed to be something under the wings of the male black-billed grouse that was glowing in the sunlight.

After the male grouse lands, it proudly comes to the female hen, spreads its wings and shows off its collection.

"Brother Su, what is that?"

Netizens are very curious.

Su Ran quickly moved the camera closer.

Suddenly I discovered that it was actually a piece of amber entangled under the wings!

This discovery made Su Ran somewhat excited.

You should know that it takes at least two thousand years for natural amber to form!

Realizing the importance of the photo, Deng Jiaying quickly took a screenshot of the high-definition photo and sent it to a teacher she knew.

Jiao Shengmin, who had made great achievements in the field of biological model research, quickly sent a message.

"Where was this taken? Is the thing still there?"

From his eager inquiries, we can see his interest in this amber!
Su Ran said at this time: "No need to ask, this amber has a history of at least tens of millions of years!"

“And look here.”

Su Ran zoomed the camera in again, and found that there was actually an ancient mosquito sealed inside the amber!
(End of this chapter)