Chapter 805: Tomb-Borrowing Bird

Gao Fei hurried up the hillside and came to Xiao Ma's side.

"Richest man, what's wrong?"

"Look over there, there's a strange big bulge on the grass!"

Looking in the direction of her finger, he saw a cone-shaped mound on the opposite grass, about two meters high and four meters in diameter, which looked like a grave at first glance.

Gao Fei approached with curiosity and found that the top of the mound was covered with a thick layer of leaves, emitting a rotten smell.

"This mound doesn't look like it was formed naturally..." Ma Yun thought, "It's either a local native tomb or some kind of religious altar, like the Nima mound in Tibet."

Tang Ning also came over and laughed when he heard Ma Yun's guess.

"Sister Tang, what are you laughing at?"

"Xiao Yun, I was thinking that travelers from different places, when they come into contact with unfamiliar things in an unfamiliar land, often make similar interpretations based on their own experiences. Perhaps this reflects the similar deep structure of cultures in different countries."

"However, this kind of interpretation based on one's own experience occasionally leads to misunderstandings. The so-called "Orientalism" is probably the product of such misunderstandings."

"Good fellow! Sister Tang, you keep talking about structuralism and Orientalism. We science students can't stand it!"

Ma Yun scratched her head.

"Okay, let me speak human words. When the Western colonists who set foot on this land two centuries ago first saw these large mounds covered with leaves, they thought the same as you, and thought that these were the tombs of local indigenous peoples."

"Until the 1840s, a naturalist who came to the island to investigate suddenly had an idea: Why not dig up the leaves and see what's inside?"

"Oh! Then what?" Xiao Ma asked excitedly.

"The scholar dug up the soil and found that it was full of damp and rotten branches and leaves. There were also several bird eggs hidden in these rotten and fermented plants." Tang Ning smiled and revealed the answer.

"Oh! I know! Use the heat generated by compost fermentation to hatch bird eggs!" Ma Yun clapped her hands excitedly, "So this is the nest of the burrowing bird!"

"Do you want to dig up the bird's nest and see if there are any eggs inside?"

Jiang Feng picked up a wooden stick and was eager to poke the bird's nest.

"Forget it, don't do such a wicked thing!" Gao Fei hurriedly stopped his girlfriend.

"I have seen this kind of bird in a documentary. It is said that it is mainly distributed in Oceania and nearby tropical islands. The burrowing bird does not incubate its eggs by itself, but lays them in rotten leaves and soil piles, and hatches the chicks by relying on the heat released when organic matter decays."

While recalling, Ma Yun took out her mobile phone and took a lot of photos of the burrowing bird's nest.

"You may not imagine that such a large mound of earth and a large pit more than one meter deep inside were all dug by the male bird alone. The amount of work is equivalent to a man building a building alone!" Tang Ning introduced to the curious visitors.

"Wow, this bare-handed construction... No, it should be said that the bare-handed construction ability is even inferior to the Australian guy."

Gao Fei said with emotion.

"Only male birds build nests?" Jiang Feng asked in wonder, "Don't female birds work together?"

Tang Ning shook his head and smiled: "When the male burrowing bird is busy on the big pile of leaves, it will drive the female bird away. It will not call the female bird over until the nest is completed, and then lay eggs in the nest."

"During the long days of incubation, the male bird is also responsible for taking care of the nest and eggs. From time to time, he will make a hole in the pile of soil and stick his head in to detect the temperature to ensure that the temperature required for the eggs to hatch is always maintained inside the nest."

"Until seven weeks later, the chicks break out of the shell and crawl out of the pile of leaves. The male bird is considered to have completed the task."

After listening to Tang Ning's story, everyone had a little more respect for the male burrowing bird, which can be regarded as a model husband among birds.

Only Qi Tian looked disapproving and whispered: "This habit of male burrowing birds... can be said to be a typical Guo Nan among birds."

This is a good joke.

But for various reasons, everyone pretended not to hear it.

The special police officers continued to walk forward with laughter, and came to a sparse bush. Suddenly, there was a sound similar to the crowing of a rooster in the forest.

"What is that noise?" Gao Fei listened attentively.

"It sounds like the call of a burrowing bird." Tang Ning frowned slightly, "The bird's call is rapid and intense, as if it has encountered a natural enemy."

Hearing her say this, Gao Fei became more curious.

Anyway, it was on the way, so he led his companions to take a look.

The group of seven people walked lightly into the bushes.

In the open space in the middle of the woods, there stood a bird's nest made of a mixture of mud and leaves.

Countless dark brown ants surrounded the bird's nest, busy shuttling in and out.

The number of ants was so large that it made people's scalp numb. At a glance, it looked like brown waves undulating on the grass.

A large bird that looked like a rooster stood on a tree branch, its feathers and comb were black and blue, shining with a metallic luster. Looking at the bird's nest occupied by the ants, it made a sad and helpless cry.

"Is that a rooster on the tree?" Jiang Feng asked Tang Ning in a low voice, "Why does it look a bit like a rooster?"

"A male rooster looks like this." Tang Ning replied.

"Sister Feng, roosters belong to the order Galliformes, a close relative of pheasants." Ma Yun added.

At this time, Gao Fei noticed a group of ants crawling out from the depths of the bird's nest, dragging a small, fluffy thing together.

After a closer look, it turned out to be a newly hatched baby camping bird. Before it could open its eyes, it was surrounded and bitten to death by the ants, dragged out of the nest, and planned to be eaten.

Other ants smelled the blood and surrounded it like crazy, scrambling to bite the young bird.

The bird father hiding on the tree branch saw this scene and spread his wings in grief and anger, but he didn't dare to pounce on the crazy ants, so he could only let out a helpless cry.

"MD! I can't stand it anymore!"

Wang Daqing couldn't bear it anymore, pulled out the electric baton, and used "Thunder Slash" to rush towards the bird's nest.

"Brother Daqing! Don't be impulsive--"

Ma Yun tried to dissuade Wang Daqing, but was pulled back by Gao Fei.

"Richest man, let Daqing go."

"But the ant colony is not evil, they are part of the local ecosystem and occupy a stable ecological niche in the food chain. Devouring young birds does look cruel, but this is a normal predation behavior. We have no reason to interfere."

Seeing Xiao Ma's serious look, Gao Fei couldn't help laughing.

"Richest man, don't forget that we are also part of the ecosystem. Ant colonies preying on young birds conforms to the laws of nature and is justified. Daqing is unhappy with the ant colony and it is also reasonable to eliminate them."

"You are quibbling!" Ma Yun said unconvinced, "Ant colonies catch birds for survival, and we don't eat ants, so why kill them when we have nothing to do?"