It was indeed exciting for Team South 6 to encounter a three-meter king cobra.
Professor Zhou had to temporarily change the route before, which actually put him under a certain amount of pressure, and some people at the base also opposed it. The route for this survey was set after a joint discussion among multiple experts, and some people were definitely dissatisfied with the temporary change of the route.
However, Professor Zhou believes that after the supplies are replenished, taking another route also combines climate and environmental factors, geographical conditions, and the experience summarized from this scientific expedition, and feels that the gains from taking the new route may be greater.
Although some people opposed it, the team leader this time was Professor Zhou, who had the final say, so there was nothing the base could do even if someone at the base had objections.
Now, Professor Zhou is more confident and does not feel intimidated when contacting the base.
Professor Zhou was very satisfied!
However, he was satisfied with catching the three-meter-long king cobra. But after he learned the details and finished sampling, he called Wang Wentao over and gave him a safety lesson together with Professor Zhu.
Feng Yi was asked to sit in on the trial.
Feng Yi couldn't escape this kind of class.
After seeing Feng Yi's ability to catch snakes, Professor Zhou really didn't know what to say.
Feng Yi's skills in catching snakes are his natural talents. Even Steve said that ordinary people can't learn Feng Yi's techniques. Anyone else would have been bitten long ago!
So we can’t look at it with common sense.
All Professor Zhou can do is remind Feng Yi not to be impulsive and reckless, and to put safety first.
After collecting samples, obtaining the desired data, and taking enough photos and videos, Steve originally wanted to give the king cobra some water. After all, a lot of venom was taken, and the snake was probably short of water.
This snake has contributed so much to scientific research tasks.
But as soon as the king cobra was released, it ran away.
Climb very fast.
Professor Zhou said, "He must have been frightened."
Steve shared the same view, "Maybe. This creature is probably the king of this area on weekdays. It has no real natural enemies here at its current size. It must be frightened to be caught and tossed around like this suddenly.
"Of course, there is another possibility. It is really hungry and is rushing out to find food."
Speaking of this, Steve reminded Wang Wentao and Feng Yi, "Some snakes have bad tempers when they are hungry and are very aggressive, so you still have to be careful!
"I mentioned this before when Feng Yi caught the Burmese python. For example, large pythons may attack humans when they are hungry. But when they are full, their tempers are still okay."
Then Steve started telling them about "My little story with the snake".
"I once pulled the tail of a very large anaconda. I encountered it when I was with a foreign scientific expedition team in the jungle."
Feng Yi asked: "Anaconda has such a good temper?"
Steve said, "When it's full, its movements are restricted. If you pull its tail, it will panic and want to run away. I only dare to pull it when I see its belly is bulging, but I don't dare to do that when it's hungry."
Steve then asked Feng Yi: "Have you seen an anaconda?"
"I haven't seen it." Feng Yi paused and said, "I've seen it on TV."
"Hey, what you've seen on TV is nothing. I'll take you to see it when I have the chance. Anacondas are ovoviviparous, giving birth to baby snakes instead of eggs, so the offspring can get better protection from the mother. In those years of abnormal climate, it is not conducive to the hatching of eggs, and those that lay eggs are hit harder.
"The number of anacondas is still good now. Every time I go to the jungle with the scientific expedition team there, I can see large ones.
"Anacondas are very heavy. They may not be as long as reticulated pythons, but their weight is simply... The trunk of the one I encountered was this thick!"
Steve gestured, "You can't pinch an anaconda with one hand. You can't pinch it at all. And you want to run with it because of its weight. It's impossible! You have to catch it like this..."
Feng Yi suddenly thought of a question, "When did snakes first appear?"
Steve laughed and said, “No one knows when snakes first appeared. We usually just say that the earliest snake fossils found can be traced back to a certain number of years ago, and the evolutionary history can be traced back to a certain number of years ago, and speculate some things based on the existing evidence.
“Perhaps more fossils will be discovered in the future and more information will be obtained. The database is constantly updated, so we have to keep exploring.
"For example, the Titanoboa fossils that were discovered tens of millions of years ago, but the fossil samples found are limited, and the analysis results are limited."
Feng Yi was curious, "How big is the largest snake?"
Steve said, "Before or now? Now is definitely not comparable to the wild days before. At that time, they were probably fighting for who was the top predator in the territory. Now... they are lucky to be alive."
Feng Yi asked, "Can there be snakes as big as the Titanoboa now?"
Steve shook his head. "They definitely can't grow that big now. It's because of the difference in air composition and the limitations of their living environment."
Steve didn't know much about paleontology. "Let's talk about how to catch an anaconda. Catching that kind of snake is different from catching a small snake. An anaconda is a muscular man! Let me teach you how to catch it..."
Feng Yi: "Does the anaconda have any natural enemies?"
Steve: "In terms of natural enemies in the real sense, it has many natural enemies when it is small, but when it grows up, it is no longer qualified to have natural enemies. Let's continue to talk about how to catch anacondas..."
The weather is bad and it is going to rain soon. Professor Zhou said that we should rest here for a while and set off again depending on the weather conditions.
While everyone else was organizing data and samples, only Steve and Feng Yi were discussing how to catch anacondas.
These two are quite free.
Steve was invited to join South Team 6 to help them catch snakes and was not part of Professor Zhou's research team.
Steve occasionally records some data and experiences, and he also plans to publish papers in some magazines.
Feng Yi, on the other hand, sees himself as a tool man. He goes out to catch snakes when necessary, looks for fruits to eat when not catching snakes, and sleeps to save energy when not looking for fruits to eat.
These two have it much easier than others. They don’t need to write scientific expedition logs, nor do they have to worry about special reports and papers after the expedition.
If you need to write a thesis report or something, Feng Yi will definitely not come!
I won’t come even if I have points!
Field scientific research is a difficult journey.
For most people, it is not pleasant to experience the ever-changing weather in this pristine mountain range.
Many wild animals can be seen here. Feng Yi can't even call out their exact names, and Professor Zhou and his colleagues can only recognize some of them. After all, these are not within their professional scope. When they encounter them, they will take photos and send them to their colleagues, just like people from other detachments of the scientific expedition team will take photos and send them to them when they encounter snakes during investigations on other routes.
Seventh week of scientific expedition.
This is the end of this scientific expedition.
They also saw human structures.
To be precise, it is the human construction of the past.
No one has lived here for a long time and it is no longer human territory.
"More than 30 years ago, there was a small village here. During the abnormal climate period, the village encountered survival problems and moved away. What was left was handed over to nature."
Professor Zhou showed Feng Yi and the others the old photos of this place, and then compared them with the present.
Indeed, it is beyond recognition.
The climate of the Nanchong Mountains is very suitable for rapid growth of vegetation.
All the houses are covered with green and intertwined with vines.
The roof and walls collapsed due to years of wind and rain erosion and invasion of animals and plants.
The well-developed root system broke through the ground, crushing the place step by step.
Feng Yi also saw some stone tablets.
"That's an earthen cemetery. When the whole village moved, some of the graves were also moved away, and the rest are no longer taken care of."
The cemetery is now covered with trees and dense vegetation.
When birds pass by here, they bring plant seeds from other places. These seeds fall to the ground along with the bird droppings and then take root and sprout here.
Some of the stone tablets were tilted by the tree roots, and some were directly knocked down. Those that were still standing were also covered by plants, and it was unknown how long they could last.
Nature is rapidly devouring everything here.
"There used to be a cement road there, but it was cut off by a landslide during an abnormal climate period, and there has been no road since then."
Professor Zhou pointed them in a direction.
If they wanted to get out of the mountains, they had to take a detour.
Seeing that Feng Yi didn't look very energetic, Professor Zhou asked, "You're tired, right?"
"Not bad." Feng Yi replied.
"If you can't hold it in, just say it. You've done a great job!"
Everyone in the team knew that Feng Yi hardly took the initiative to look for snakes in the second half of this expedition. Most of the time he just sat down where he was and didn't move, saying he wanted to take a rest.
However, everyone thought that this was Feng Yi's first time participating in field work and he was not used to it, so no one asked too much of him.
Feng Yi performed very well in this scientific expedition, and both the Burmese python and the king cobra should be credited to him.
After the king cobra, we found fewer snakes. Yesterday, we encountered a pit viper. Professor Zhou was still very happy.
Although the harvest in the second half was not as great as that in the first half, overall, the data and samples obtained from this scientific expedition have exceeded those of last year and the year before, and also exceeded Professor Zhou's expectations.
Feng Yi made a great contribution here.
Professor Zhou was also thinking about giving Feng Yi some more points as a reward after the event.
After completing the sampling work, the team continued on their way.
When Wang Wentao walked to Feng Yi's side, he asked, "Feng Yi, there's no sun now, why are you still wearing sunglasses?"
Feng Yi smiled and replied: "It can prevent some small flying insects."
Wang Wentao just asked casually, not really curious about why Feng Yi wore sunglasses. He just noticed that Feng Yi rarely wore sunglasses during previous scientific expeditions, but he wore them early this morning, so he asked one more question.
When the team was resting, Feng Yi made an excuse to go to the bathroom.
When you are far away from other people, take off your sunglasses.
The pupils of his eyes had shrunk into two narrow lines.
After blinking, the two lines gradually expanded into a circle, and then shrank a little bit to become an upright ellipse.
The two long teeth in the mouth are also eager to move, and seem a bit undisciplined.
So hungry!
Energy conservation weakens the control over them, and the "animal nature" begins to seek a sense of existence.
Even though Feng Yi had blocked his vomeronasal organ, he was still very sensitive to some smells when breathing. These odor molecules constantly reminded him—
food!
Find food!!
Feng Yi thought: What the hell! Just hold it in!
The long teeth can control it, and the vomeronasal organ can seal it, but the eyes and the soles of the feet will tease the brain nerves from time to time!
Feng Yi was thankful: Fortunately, I was prepared!
Take out the things in the bag, put on the contact lenses and insoles.
Although wearing a pupil patch requires activating some of the functions of the vomeronasal organ in order to move normally, which consumes more energy, isn't there any other way
If you quit midway, you will have to undergo a full body check by the rescue team!
But in order to suppress his animal nature he dared not eat anything indiscriminately!
I will never accept a field expedition mission that lasts more than a month again!
After returning to the team, Feng Yi asked Professor Zhou: "Professor Zhou, how long will it take for our investigation to end?"
"It will probably take four or five days to get out. Thank you for your hard work!"
Hearing that there were only four or five days left, Feng Yi breathed a sigh of relief. Four or five days was still enough!
He is really reaching his limit!
I feel like if I continue to be this hungry...
He is about to show his true colors!