Chapter 90 The Miraculous Lungfish
Although the water was not very clean, to Chu Ye, it already felt like very delicious water.
After Chu Ye drank some water, he no longer felt thirsty. He was walking around in this big puddle.
There is nothing interesting about this big puddle, only the small puddle in the middle has some water in it. Elsewhere, there is just some dry and cracked mud.
Chu Ye first looked at the dry and cracked mud, and he had a bad feeling. Because there was still a lot of water in this big puddle more than ten days ago. There is not much water in this puddle now.
This waterhole has always been a place where animals living nearby often come to drink water. All the large animals near this water hole come to this water hole to drink water.
Chu Ye and his group of lions have been drinking from this puddle these days. But now the water in this puddle has to be evaporated by the blazing sunshine.
'Our pride of lions is going to have no water to drink, so do we have to migrate to other places? '
When Chu Ye saw that the water in this big puddle was about to evaporate, he already felt that the lions were about to migrate to other places to live.
Just when Chu Ye was thinking this, he felt movement in the puddle and some splashes on the water.
'Hey! What is that? Is it some fish? '
Chu Ye felt that there was some animal swimming in the small puddle, so he walked over curiously.
When Chu Ye came to the puddle again, he saw some small fish swimming in the small puddle.
Maybe they felt that the water in the puddle was about to evaporate due to the hot sunlight. The small fish in the puddle also felt very panic and started swimming around.
Looking at the little fish in the water, Chu Ye felt a little sympathy. He felt that he was relatively lucky. At least he was a lion. Even if the water in this puddle was evaporated by the hot sunshine, they could still live elsewhere.
But the little fish in this puddle may not have such ability. They could only watch as the water in this puddle became less and less.
'well! Poor little fishes! I hope that in your next life you will not be reborn as a fish, but as a lion. In this way, you can live somewhere else like me when there is no water. '
Chu Ye looked at the little fish in front of him, and he felt some sympathy.
But what Chu Ye didn't expect was that just when he was thinking this, he saw a small fish slowly crawling up the shore, and then got into the dry mud on the shore.
Chu Ye was very surprised when he saw this situation.
'Hey! How could this happen? How could these small fish climb onto the shore by themselves and get into the mud? Could it be that some of them are loaches! '
Chu Ye felt at first that these small fish should be some loaches. But after he looked carefully, he realized that these small fish were not loaches.
'What kind of fish are these, and why are they burrowing into the soil? Chu Ye looked at these small fish in the puddle strangely.
He saw that at first only a small fish climbed onto the shore and got into the cracked soil. Soon, other small fish, like the one just now, climbed onto the shore and got into the mud on the shore.
'These fish are really strange. What kind of fish are they? Chu Ye suddenly wanted to find out what kind of fish this kind of fish was and why they burrowed into the soil.
'Why! Wasn't it possible that when I saw an animal, I could generate some information about it in my brain? This time we should be able to generate this information too! '
Chu Ye thought that when he saw some animals before, he would unconsciously generate some information about the animals in his mind.
'Let me think about it again, I should be able to know what kind of fish this fish is, and I should know some information about them. '
When Chu Ye thought of this, he looked at the fish in front of him carefully, hoping that he could generate some information about this small fish in his mind.
Strangely enough, when Chu Ye did this, he really felt that some information about this small fish was quickly generated in his mind.
This little fish is actually the famous African lungfish, which is a very magical little fish.
African lungfish live in fresh water. In addition to breathing with gills, they can also breathe with their swim bladders instead of lungs. Even in dry periods, they burrow into the mud for aestivation, which can last for several months. But there is a time limit. The reason why the lungfish can live outside the water, as its name suggests, is that it can use its "lungs" to breathe.
Their swim bladder is very developed, and the front end of the entire swim bladder merges into a single chamber with a very short length, and then separates into pairs, reaching the rear end of the body cavity; the side walls of the central cavity in the swim bladder form many small air chambers (alveoli) of varying sizes, each of which is The small air chambers are divided into many small air sacs (pulmonary vesicles), and their structure is very similar to that of the lungs of terrestrial animals.
Because its swim bladder has the function of a lung in terms of physiological structure, it is full of branched blood vessel networks and spiral valves. It has a short swim bladder that communicates with the esophagus. It can use the swim bladder to absorb oxygen and expel carbon dioxide during hypoxia.
Interestingly, the African lungfish also has the ability to hide itself deep in the mud during the dry season, and use the surrounding soil to build a very strong "small mud hole", opening a small breathing hole in front of its mouth, and it quietly Lie quietly in it and spend the 6-month dry season in aestivation. When the rainy season comes, it breaks out.
Lungfish is a special fish that can breathe through gills when in water, but it has a special swim bladder that allows the lungfish to breathe air directly after leaving the water. During the dry season in Africa, lungfish burrow into wet mud and create small burrows in which to curl up.
In order to prevent it from drying out, it will secrete special mucus from the skin to cover the whole body, forming a waterproof layer, leaving only a small hole for breathing, using its own muscles and fat as nutrients to survive, and reducing the metabolic rate to sixty percent of the original level. One, about less than 2% of normal.
Lungfish has many traits similar to those of living amphibians in terms of soft tissue structure, development, physiology and behavior but different from other living fish. African lungfish can stay out of the water and sleep for 3 to 5 years without eating or drinking. When the river water returns, they can be reborn.
Research has found that this is a kind of dormancy at the cellular level. Scientists use this as a breakthrough and hope that humans can also hibernate in the future, so that they can carry out ultra-long-distance space travel or buy time for medical rescue.
African lungfish can sleep for three to five years without eating or drinking, and can wake up when the river water returns. Researchers say that during this process, their biological clocks are slowed down and they enter a state of hibernation. The lungfish do not eat, drink or excrete, sometimes for up to five years.
Researchers claim that during this process, their biological clocks are slowed down, they no longer eat, and consume very little energy.
After Chu Ye learned the information about this small fish, he no longer dared to look down on this small fish. He also felt that there was no need to sympathize with this small fish. He felt that he should sympathize with himself now. I am not as good as other people's lungfish.
'Damn, it turns out this is the magical African lungfish! His survival skills are truly incredible! Comparatively speaking, the abilities of lions are not as powerful as those of an African lungfish. The lungfish can burrow into the mud without eating or drinking for five or six months, and then waits until the rainy season to come out of the mud again. But we lions have to starve during the dry season and have to wander to other places to live. '
Chu Ye looked at the small fish in front of him and suddenly felt that he was not as good as a fish.
'Grass, if I can be reborn in my next life, I will definitely be reborn as an African lungfish. How wonderful it is to be a fish! Living a free life, even in the dry season, you can still crawl into the mud, and then sleep, and it will be the rainy season again. This kind of life is really too easy. '
Chu Ye was still pitying the lungfish just now, but in the blink of an eye. In turn, he would envy the superb survival skills of other people's lungfish.
'It would be great if the lions could eat a full meal, find a place to sleep for a few months, and then wake up again when the rainy season comes. '
Chu Ye looked at the small fish in front of him and began to think wildly.
But Chu Ye also knew that he was a huge lion, and it was impossible for him to survive the dry season by just getting into the soil and sleeping like a lungfish.
'Forget it, let's go back! I don’t need to envy other people’s lungfish here, I’d better go back to the pride of lions! '
Chu Ye felt that there was nothing good to see in this place. Just looking at these lungfish made him more envious and jealous of the lungfish.
So, Chu Ye started to walk back, he wanted to return to the lions.
But after he walked for a while, he saw a small mound in front of him. In the flat plains of the southern Serengeti, if there is a relatively high place, it will look very abrupt.
'What is that? Let me go over and have a look. When Chu Ye saw the small mound in front of him, he felt a little strange, so he walked over by himself.
This small mound is only a hundred meters away from Chuye. Chu Ye quickly reached this small mound.
When they arrived at the small mound, Chu Ye saw that there were some small holes on the top of the small mound. These small holes seemed to lead to the ground.
'Hey! Isn’t this an ant nest in Africa? '
When Chu Ye saw this small mound, he knew it was the nest of African termites.
The African termite is an amazing little animal from Africa. It also plays a vital role in the ecological chain of the African savanna.
Although African termites are very small. But not only do they have powerful attack power, they also feed many African animals. It's not just small animals and birds that may feed on termites. Even some large animals feed on termites.
Two large animals, such as aardvarks and hyenas, actually live on small ants such as African termites.
Chu Ye looked at the tower-like mound in front of him and immediately knew that it was the home of African termites. Some information about African termites soon appeared in his mind.
Termites are also called insects. Termites are one of the insects that exist in the natural environment and can efficiently degrade lignocellulose. They belong to the phylum Arthropoda, the class Insecta, the subclass Pterygoid, and the superorder Dictyoptera. They are hemimetabolous and fully social insects.
Termites are distributed on 2/3 of the earth's land area, most of which are concentrated in tropical and subtropical regions. Among all continents, only Antarctica has not found traces of termite activity. Net primary production in tropical and subtropical regions accounts for 50-60% of terrestrial ecosystems.
There are many different levels of individuals in a termite colony, and each level of termites performs its own duties and cooperates with each other. The grades of termites include reproductive ants, soldier ants, worker ants and nymphs. The reproductive ants are divided into primitive reproductive ants and supplementary reproductive ants.
Primitive breeding ants are long-winged breeding ants that fly away from the mother nest. They then pair up and shed their wings to establish a nest colony. When the original queen ant in the nest ages or dies, supplementary breeding ants will supplement or replace the existing ones. King ants and queens reproduce to keep the nest stable.
There is generally only one pair of primitive kings and queens in a termite colony. Some species also have multiple kings and queens. Once the primitive king and queen die of illness and death, short-winged termites will quickly appear in the nest. Supplementary or wingless supplementary ant kings and queens continue to reproduce the offspring of the nest and expand the colony's needs.
For example, an adult queen in a soil-dwelling termite colony will lay about 8,000 to 10,000 eggs in a day and night during her reproductive peak, and the number of eggs laid in her lifetime is as high as more than 500 million. A mature nest of this type of termite The number of individuals in the group can reach millions, and its life history lasts for decades. The growth of the number of individuals in the population can be described as a geometric progression.
Termites are the master builders of the animal world, building iconic mounds that can reach more than 10 feet (approximately 3 meters) in height, and the mound in the photo reaches a height of 16 feet (approximately 4.8 meters). This "skyscraper" is built from termite-chewed branches, soil and dung, and the interior environment is very comfortable. The mounds built by termites are well ventilated, like air conditioners, and can also collect condensed water droplets; some termites even have "fungus farms."
Termites can survive in extremely dry wood and have three pairs of rectal glands that can absorb moisture from their feces. With slow metabolism and poor reproductive capacity, termites cannot compete with nasal termites and macrotermites. They are not easy to survive in a good environment and are forced to live in dry and hard wood. Termites are known as married termites. When large numbers of termites are discovered, the furniture has already been damaged.
Termites have a wide range of food habits. Their nutrients come from plants. They feed on plant cellulose and its products as their main food. They also eat fungi and lignin. They also occasionally eat starch, sugar, protein, etc.
However, it is also common for termites to eat artificial fibers, plastics, wires, cables, and even bricks, stones, metals, etc. They spit out chemicals such as formic acid (formic acid) to corrode and melt these objects.
