"Is this the Antarctic sea lion? So cute." Someone's eyes lit up, "Does anyone know if this thing is a protected animal? If not, I'll have to find a way to catch it."
"These are ranked at the top of the IUCN Red List. Do you think they are protected animals?" someone asked.
The person who asked the question initially stopped talking immediately.
Although Antarctica does not belong to any country, it does not mean that it is a lawless area.
To be precise, Antarctica is a piece of fat meat that everyone is drooling over, and everyone wants to take a bite of it.
"Although it is called the Antarctic fur sea lion, it is actually a fur seal," Xiang Yang explained. "As early as 1775, Captain Cook arrived at South Georgia Island while exploring Antarctica. At that time, Captain Cook discovered a large number of fur seals on the island."
"And even if this thing is not a mammal, it is not so easy to catch. It doesn't even need to bite you. It only needs to breathe at you, and you may not see the sun tomorrow." Gao Chuang said coldly to the crew member.
There is a reason why the Antarctic fur seal is the stinkiest. In its mouth, there are tens of millions of bacteria. The Antarctic fur seal is immune to these bacteria, but other creatures do not have that immunity.
If you are lucky and don't encounter any deadly bacteria, even if you are bitten by an Antarctic fur seal, it will only cause an infection in the wound.
But if you are unlucky, it can directly lead to a plague.
The Antarctic curly sea lion is a living biological weapon.
"The two Antarctic curly sea lions, one big and one small, below should be mother and son. It's really strange. If I remember correctly, fur seals and sea lions are social creatures. Why are there two orphans and a widow together here?" Fang Youqun asked puzzledly.
Xiang Yang smiled and said, "These are not a mother and son, and the little one is not a baby Antarctic curly sea lion."
"The normal length of a pup of an Antarctic curly sea lion is no more than 70 centimeters. Once it exceeds 70 centimeters, it can almost move independently."
"Look at the big one, it's about two meters long, it must be a male curly sea lion, and the small one is a female."
The male Antarctic curly sea lion can grow to more than two meters in length and weigh between 100 and 300 kilograms. The female is generally about 1.4 meters in length and weighs between 30 and 60 kilograms. The size difference between the husband and wife is very large, so to people who don't know them, it is easy to mistake the female sea lion for a baby sea lion.
"Moreover, the average lifespans of male and female Antarctic curly sea lions are very different. According to scientific statistics, female sea lions can live about twice as long as male Antarctic curly sea lions on average," said a captain.
Xiang Yang nodded and confirmed what the captain said, "This is related to the living habits of Antarctic curly sea lions. Male Antarctic curly sea lions almost only feed on Antarctic krill. The nutrition of the food they consume is too monotonous, which seriously affects the lifespan of male Antarctic curly sea lions. Although female Antarctic curly sea lions also feed on Antarctic krill, they sometimes also eat some Antarctic fish and squid. Sometimes they will go ashore to prey on penguins or leopard seal pups."
At this time, the larger of the two Antarctic curly sea lions under the water suddenly stretched out its head and stuck it into the ice hole, as if trying to pass through the ice hole and climb onto the ice surface.
"Haha, this ice cave is very smooth and deep. It is impossible to climb out." Xiang Yang said with a smile.
Sure enough, after trying for a while, the Antarctic curly sea lion suddenly gave up in dejection.
Then, it stared at the ice cave for a while, suddenly dived under the water, and disappeared.
"It's time to leave. Let's continue fishing for Antarctic krill." Gao Chuang took off his leather gloves, lit a cigarette, took a deep puff, and then exhaled a breath of hot air mixed with smoke.
Xiang Yang nodded. In fact, the Antarctic curly sea lions were also very pitiful. Although these two looked carefree under the water, they were actually in a very embarrassing position in the entire Antarctic biosphere.
They are only one level higher than penguins in the food chain, and both killer whales and leopard seals love to hunt them.
The most important thing is that every spring, Antarctic curly sea lions gather on South Georgia Island to breed, and at that time, they attract a large number of leopard seals.
However, the leopard seal, which can easily kill the Antarctic curly sea lion, does not like to eat the Antarctic curly sea lion, or only eats the internal organs of the Antarctic curly sea lion. A leopard seal can often kill more than a dozen Antarctic curly sea lions in a day.
Xiang Yang turned his head and looked in the direction of the ice cave that his crew had dug, and happened to see several crew members dragging a trap out of the ice cave with great difficulty.
There are so many Antarctic krill under this piece of ice that even if you use a water spoon to scoop them up, you can scoop up half a spoonful at a time.
Every time the trap is put under the ice cave and then taken out, there are at least one or two hundred kilograms of Antarctic krill inside. The speed of making money is really very fast.
Just then, Xiang Yang heard another exclamation.
"Look, look quickly."
"Sea lion."
"They are the two Antarctic curly sea lions that were just under the ice cave."
"They've come up on the ice."
Xiang Yang turned his head and looked towards the edge of the ice floe.
Sure enough, on the edge of the ice floe, there were two Antarctic curly sea lions, one big and one small.
The heads of the two Antarctic curly sea lions look very much like a puppy without ears, and their necks are a bit like alpacas. At this moment, they are relying on their two front flippers to support their entire bodies, stretching their necks, and looking at the crew members working on the ice with curiosity.
Their cute and adorable looks made many crew members want to run over and take photos with them.
"Everyone stay where you are and don't get close to those two Antarctic curly sea lions." Xiang Yang shouted to his crew members. After he finished shouting, he deliberately glared at Fang Youqun who was ready to make a move.
Although fur seals rarely attack humans, the Antarctic curly sea lion, as a type of fur seal, is rated as a non-hazardous species by the World Conservation Union, but their mouths, which look like biological weapons, are really too terrifying.
Gao Chuang, however, still had a childish heart. On the one hand, he asked many captains to keep a good control of their men and not allow the crew to approach the two sea lions. On the other hand, he asked everyone if there were any sea urchins or the like in the fleet's cabins.
Xiang Yang was quite speechless. He guessed that Boss Gao saw that the two Antarctic curly sea lions were cute, so he wanted to use sea urchins to tease them.