Steller's sea eagles generally live in the sea.
The ocean is known as the cradle of life. There is plenty of food and the entire sea is full of fish. Why does it need to be so resistant to hunger
Starving for twenty days
Let alone twenty days, if a Steller's sea eagle fails to catch a single fish for three consecutive days in a sea full of fish, it deserves to starve to death, it's so stupid.
What kind of environment does the Saker Falcon live in
In the cold northern regions, there are either endless prairies, barren deserts, or snow-capped mountains.
It’s not so bad in spring, summer and autumn. There are many small and medium-sized animals such as hares and mice, and there is no ice on the water, so you can catch a few fish to eat.
What about winter
There is nothing in the desert in winter, and the water is frozen. The animals on the grassland have stored food for the winter. Apart from preying on kittens, puppies and chickens in the village and eating some carrion, where else does the Saker Falcon get its food
Not to mention being able to endure hunger for twenty days, if we really follow Darwin's theory of evolution, its inability to hibernate can only be considered as a sign of its incomplete evolution.
In any case, to this day, people can still occasionally see Steller's sea eagles in the southern coastal areas, but many people who have lived on the grasslands all their lives will never see the Saker Falcon.
Of course, Xiang Yang knew that the sharp decline in the number of Saker Falcons had nothing to do with their ability to adapt to nature. Saker Falcons were not eliminated by natural laws. The main reason for the sharp decline in the number of Saker Falcons was human capture.
Xiang Yang didn't know how much a live Saker Falcon could be sold for, because he had never heard of the trading of live Saker Falcons.
Not to mention seeing it, I’ve never even heard of it.
But Xiang Yang had heard about how much a dead Saker Falcon was worth.
In 2017, in Western Siberia, a group of thieves killed a Saker Falcon, which was sold on the black market for 19 million rubles, which is about 1.8 million yuan in domestic currency.
Later, the group of poachers was caught, and the police in Western Siberia naturally followed the clues to track down the whereabouts of the Saker Falcon. It turned out that the Saker Falcon had been changed hands several times and sold to North America. The last transaction price was US$4.4 million, which is equivalent to about 30 million yuan in domestic currency.
This price is outrageous, isn’t it
In fact, it is not outrageous at all. Compared with the historical value of Saker Falcon, this price is not even a drop in the bucket.
In modern times, Saker Falcon's alias is "The Saker Falcon that Will Be in Prison for a Long Time".
In the Qing Dynasty, the Saker Falcon was also called the Death-Free Falcon.
What does it mean? It means that a Saker Falcon is a golden medal of immunity from death.
Among the Saker Falcons, the pure white "Jade Claw" is the best quality, and there are also other varieties such as Autumn Yellow, Wave Yellow, and Three-Year Dragon.
In the Qing Dynasty, if a prisoner captured a Saker Falcon and presented it to the imperial court, he could be exempted from all death penalty charges except treason.
During the Liao, Jin, Yuan and Ming dynasties before the Qing Dynasty, each dynasty had institutions similar to Eagle Houses that were dedicated to catching and raising Saker Falcons.
The Saker Falcon has a very profound historical and cultural heritage in my country, and was even once elevated to the level of a totem.
The Saker Falcon is not only a brave falcon, but also an integral part of our ancient culture.
A poet in the Jin Dynasty described the scene of the Saker Falcon swooping down on a swan as "its jade claws fighting the wind soar into the sky, its feathers falling into the snow and frost when it glimpses the sun", expressing praise for the Saker Falcon's ability to defeat the big with its smallness and its perseverance and bravery.
Modern archaeologists have unearthed a bone-carved Gypsophila gecko in the Xingkai Lake area, dating back about 6,000 years.
In the Jurchen tombs in the east of the ancient city of Shangjing, a gilded bronze belt with a pattern of a Saker Falcon catching a flying swan was discovered.
In addition, among the ancient music scores that still exist in my country, there is the pipa score of "Haidongqing Catching Swan".
Among the folk children’s games, there is an activity called “Old Kite Catching Chicks”.
The nursery rhyme "Ama Has a Little Jiahun" is still popular in Dunhua, Jilin.
Xiang Yang had never heard of that song, but he had seen its lyrics when reading about Saker Falcon. "My father has a little horned eagle. With white wings, it flies fast, and with red eyes, it can see clearly. Rabbits won't run away when they see it, and swans get confused when they see it. The captain opened his eyes wide when he saw it, and called it Saker Falcon. He tied it with silk and bells, and sent it to the capital with music and drums. The emperor awarded him a yellow jacket, and my father wanted to use a big iron bow. The iron bow and iron arrows can shoot far, and we don't need an eagle to catch swans anymore."
This ballad vividly shows how precious the Saker Falcon was in ancient times.
Whoever caught a Saker Falcon would have to carry it to Bauhinia City with music and drums, just like sending a bride. Not to mention the manpower and resources consumed in the process, just look at the reward the emperor gave.
Yellow jacket!!!
In ancient times, from October to December every year, the imperial court would send people to Fuyuan County on both sides of the Yazijiang River to catch Gaker Falcons.
When catching a Gaker Falcon, first use three stones to build a "∏"-shaped support on the sunny side of the hillside, symbolizing the golden building temple of the Eagle God in the ninth heaven. A rock is placed inside, representing the sacred mountain where the Eagle God lives.
Then they put grass as incense, offered wine for sacrifice, and then set a net to catch the eagle.
The net for catching Saker Falcons is usually 3 meters long and 1 meter wide. A pigeon or a dead chicken is tied to the net as bait. The falconer himself hides in a "shack" camouflaged with branches, waiting for the hawk to arrive.
Sometimes, falconers have to wait for several months before they can catch a Saker Falcon, which is called "squatting on the grass", and this is also the original origin of the word "squatting on the grass".
If a Saker Falcon swoops down from the sky, it will pounce on the bait and be captured in the net.
The falconer must first solemnly pay thanks to the eagle goddess before he can catch the eagle.
If the captured eagle is a Saker Falcon, it must be sent to the Forbidden City immediately for the emperor to enjoy, otherwise it would be a serious crime and the three tribes would be exterminated.
Emperor Kangxi once exclaimed: "There are three hundred and sixty feathered insects, and the most beautiful one is the Gyrfalcon."
After the Saker Falcon was sent to the Forbidden City, a special falconer in the Forbidden City placed the Saker Falcon on a special scaffold and did not allow it to sleep for several days in order to wear down its wildness. This is called "training the hawk."
After the training of the eagle, there are still some steps such as "boxing" and "rope running" before the Saker Falcon can listen to people's calls and go wherever it is told to go.
In order to understand the fatness of the falcon, falconers will let the falcon swallow a ball of hemp thread wrapped in lean meat slices. Since the falcon cannot digest it, it will spit out the thread ball, which is called "carrying the axis" or "tightening the waist".
After several "axles", the Saker Falcon can empty its stomach and strengthen its muscles, so that it can "go into battle lightly" and fly into the sky.
There are documents that record that a Saker Falcon over three years old can fight with a fox, and a five-year-old Saker Falcon can carry away cats and dogs as their prey.
Of course, the exact nature of the dog that was taken away by the Saker Falcon as recorded in the literature remains to be discussed, as the literature does not record the specific type of dog that the Saker Falcon took away.
Teddy is also a dog, and Tibetan Mastiff is also a dog. Xiang Yang feels that there is still a slight difference in the fighting power of these two breeds of dogs.