In this virgin forest full of primitive creatures and full of dangers everywhere, it took us seven days to walk. In these seven days, we gradually became familiar with this real virgin forest.
The forest is full of ferns up to a hundred meters high, with only one main trunk and no branches. When it reaches the top, it suddenly spreads its leaves, opening a piece like an umbrella.
The leaves of those plants are also different from common leaves. What radiates from the main stem is actually a stalk. Numerous oval flakes are attached to it like fish scales. That is the leaf. The oval center of each leaf has A stalk.
In fact, those leaves are the seeds of these ferns. When they fall to the ground, they will grow into a huge fern.
In addition, there is an older primitive plant growing in the depths of the forest. It has no roots, no branches and leaves, only stems. From a distance, it looks like a giant earthworm, curved and coiled on the giant fern. Turn and turn.
At first we thought it was an animal, and we were so scared that we dared not go over from above. After several trials, we discovered that it was a plant.
As for the animals in the dense forest, most of them are large brainless protozoa, acting according to their own instincts. Once they understand their living habits, they will not pose much threat to us.
In these seven days, almost all the animals we have seen have become our food, and according to their meat quality, they have been divided into three, six or nine classes.
Such as that strange insect, although the texture of the meat is good, it has an unpleasant taste, which greatly reduces the grade, but it is the favorite of the rest of the creatures in the forest, especially the giant grasshoppers. Giant grasshoppers live in groups on the edge of a dense forest swamp. They eat everything and look hideous, but the meat is very delicious, especially the meat in the shell of a pair of hind legs, which feels a bit similar to crab meat.
It’s just that those giant grasshoppers are hard to catch. They often move in groups. They have a very large range and can fly at low altitudes. They can even stand upright on their powerful hind legs. They are almost one person tall, and their front legs with spikes. A mouth like a hard palate can also cause great damage to other creatures.
When we first encountered those giant grasshoppers, we also experienced a hard fight, and our big eyes were injured a little bit, but later we figured out that these guys can fly only 10 meters long, which is almost the same as that of giant grasshoppers. Like the ancient dragon snake, so he began to set traps on high places to add
Capture.
At the same time, we also found that the deeper the forest, the higher the evolution of the creatures, the more complex and complete the organs, and the more agile movements. The difficulty of catching or evading has increased a lot.
In seven days, it is estimated that from 450 million years prehistoric to 350 million years prehistoric. Of course, there is no absolute limit, just a bold speculation based on Zhang Ling's relevant knowledge.
There is no direction to speak of here. All the identification devices are out of order. Only the most primitive and simplest effective method can prevent you from getting lost in the forest, which is to mark along the way.
Under the obstacles of unknown primitive creatures and jungle swamps, we can only travel about 20 kilometers a day, which is more than 100 kilometers in seven days. It is well known that Lop Nur is mainly surrounded by large mountains such as Tianshan and Kunlun Mountains. If we are in In the hinterland of the two mountain ranges, this one hundred kilometers is nothing at all, so we have no idea when we can reach the end.
In the afternoon of the eighth day, we were shrouded in front of us by a gray mist, which looked dangerous.
The three of us proceeded cautiously, and when we got closer, we discovered that the fog turned out to be a kind of suspended matter similar to dandelion.
It looks like a cloud from a distance, surging with the wind.
Big Eye said: "There should be a huge dandelion here, it must be the ancestor of dandelion. Let's take a closer look." These days, Big Eye always describes these unknown creatures hundreds of millions of years ago as being living nowadays. Ancestor.
Zhang Ling said cautiously: "It's better to be careful, don't get too close, or it will damage your body. You are waiting here, I will go and see."
Big Eye and I waited in place. Zhang Ling covered his mouth and walked in. She returned after a while. She said, "It's not like a giant dandelion. Those flying catkins are spewing out like a spring."
I puzzled and said: "From the underground? What is the underground?"
Zhang Ling said: "It's not underground, it's on a tree... I can't tell you when you trace it. You will know if you go and see. Also, I found that there are many dead animals in the swamp directly under the dense fog. All this stuff is estimated to be harmful to living organisms."
I said, "Okay! Take a closer look, if it doesn't work, go around."
There is very little sunlight in the forest, cold, humid, and dark. This is all the feelings that the primitive jungle brings. Stepping on the semi-slip soil, slowly
Slowly approach, and within a few steps, you can see the strange thing Zhang Ling said. It should be said that it is a kind of tree, but...
Near the top of the tree, there are five or six fleshy sacs hanging side by side. They are about seven or eight meters in diameter, occupying more than half of the tree. They are shaped like coconuts with their pointed ends facing upwards. The fleshy sacs are constantly shrinking, as if The beating heart.
Each time it shrinks, countless fluffy floats are sprayed into the air hundreds of meters above the ground, forming what Zhang Ling said, like a spout of underground spring water.
Moreover, that kind of dwarf tree is only less than 20 meters high, it is hard to imagine how it survived in this jungle. The entire jungle in front is full of strange plants, and countless fleshy sacs eject a large amount of floc, like a mushroom cloud covering the entire sky.
Big Eyes said in surprise: "Is this a plant? Why does it still move?"
I said: "That thing should be a parasitic organism on the plant, and the plant should not be able to move."
Big Eye said: "Why can't plants move? Can't the cannibal tree move!"
Zhang Ling said: "Even carnivorous plants can't perform this kind of muscle-like exercise, but you see that the fleshy sac is basically grown on the plant, and the fluffy things that are ejected obviously have the same effect. The characteristics of plants. Some experts have put forward the theory of watershed between animals and plants, which means that they grow like plants, but they have the athletic abilities that some animals can only make."
Big eyes said in surprise: "Watershed between animals and plants? Grow like plants and act like animals? This is too weird!"
I said, "I've never heard of it."
Zhang Ling said: "This is not known to everyone. This kind of controversy existed as early as when the theory of evolution was put forward. Some biologists believe that animals and plants already appeared when the original organisms such as bacteria and algae existed. They are clearly divided into their respective fields. However, some biologists believe that in the form of single-celled organisms, animals and plants are not clearly defined, and when they evolve to more complex organisms, they are not completely defined. Separate, go its own way, the development trend should be like an electric wave, separate, then close, cross, and then separate.
If you are not mistaken, this may be the first intersection between primitive animals and plants after the end of single-celled organisms. Even now, there are still creatures in this form outside. "
Big eyes asked: "There are also outside? For example?"
(End of this chapter) (End of this chapter)