Musk oxen are an endemic species that live in the Arctic tundra.
In summer, it tends to the shelter of humid lowlands, such as river valleys and lakesides; in winter, it moves to higher slopes, plateaus and places where deep snow accumulates to facilitate foraging.
Under normal circumstances, musk oxen appear to be extremely docile. They stop to eat some food, then lie flat on the ground and chew slowly, and then doze off after a while.
When he wakes up a little, he then walks forward for a while, and then repeats his old tricks, eating food, ruminating, and dozing off.
It looks lazy, but it contains the survival wisdom of polar creatures.
Doing so can reduce energy consumption and reduce food requirements.
Because the musk ox retains energy so efficiently, it requires only 1/6 of the food required by a similarly sized cow.
It is precisely because of this that Bi Fang can rest assured and wait for a day to track.
Under natural walking conditions, even on foot, he was confident that he could catch up with the musk ox.
Coupled with the strong smell of the grass, it proved that the musk oxen herd had not been away for long, definitely not more than five days.
Of course, walking slowly does not mean that musk oxen cannot really run fast. During the breeding period, these super beasts weighing more than 350 kilograms can run at speeds approaching 50 kilometers per hour.
The terrifying mass and speed bring extremely huge momentum. When these furry Arctic beasts collide head-on, they will stab their opponents with their huge sharp horns. The ground will tremble at the moment of the collision.
What's even more terrible is that in their 10 to 12 years of life, a male musk ox may be hit on the head more than 2,100 times.
The audience almost jumped out of their seats after hearing this terrifying number of times.
【2100 times???】
[Momentum of five thousand...]
[Is there anyone who can calculate how many joules the kinetic energy is?]
[After calculation, the momentum of 5,000 is about 35,000 joules of kinetic energy...]
[The muzzle kinetic energy of an AK47 is about two thousand joules (face covering)]
[Is being hit by this thing the same as being hit by an anti-aircraft gun?]
How do musk oxen survive these attacks without their brains being battered to pulp?
This is the question lingering in everyone's mind.
It's like seeing the giant bull that created the mountain in myths and legends.
"It's always been thought that animals like musk oxen and bighorn sheep that attack with their heads are somehow immune to head damage. It's like they have magic horns."
"But in fact, this kind of impact is indeed damaging. Not only is it not immune, it will also cause chronic damage to the musk ox's brain, just like Alzheimer's disease in us humans."
Bi Fang's statement has a scientific basis. The behavior of musk oxen is also the first time that humans have tested whether such collisions of animals will cause damage.
"In the brain of living things, there is a protein called tau. When neurons are damaged, whether due to aging, genetic problems or mechanical influences, they will be torn apart and the tau protein will break down and form clumps."
"When detected with fluorescent labeling, the shining tau protein in the musk ox's brain looks like a lit Christmas tree."
"Evolution can lead an individual species to a surprising path of self-destruction."
Bi Fang told a shocking fact.
All evolution is essentially for the better reproduction of species.
The survival of the individual does not actually matter.
This is also the most cruel scene in evolution.
As for whether the musk ox really suffers from a disease such as dementia, who knows?
There are no behavioral scales for musk oxen, and humans don't know whether they feel forgetful.
There is only one thing that is beyond doubt: their brains were damaged.
"Every year, musk oxen fight many times, but if they want to reproduce successfully even once, they have to hit each other and catalyze the slow death of the brain. From an evolutionary perspective, as long as the musk oxen 'don't die,' it's fine."
audience:"???"
"For example, the shrew is a small carnivore native to mainland Australia and Tasmania. They have a characteristic, that is, they have one litter for life."
"It means they reproduce once and then die. Female shrews can live for 2 to 3 years or more. Males rarely live longer than 11 months."
"They have a very crazy mating season, where a male's mating season can last 12 to 14 hours, and then each male will mate with as many other females as he can - leading to his death.
.”
"It's a bit like a bee hive. Instead of reproducing themselves to successfully acquire genes, the worker bees help their mother, the queen of the colony, reproduce."
"An ant colony or hive is more like a large animal, with the queen ant or bee representing the reproductive organs. These little worker bees are numerous and require only a small amount of resources to raise, so they are similar to human cells in some ways."
"So, the same is true for musk oxen. As long as it can promote reproduction, the survival of that individual is actually irrelevant compared to the entire population."
"This also results in male musk oxen living less than 15 years, while female musk oxen can live 15 to 23 years."
"Their lives are not that complicated. So they probably only live long enough to do what they need to do."
The brand new snowshoes are made of wooden boards. Compared with the original simple tree branch version, the effect is at least several times better. When stepping on the snow, they only sink a few centimeters before stopping, reducing the resistance to a minimum.
Bi moved towards the distance, but the audience was still trapped in the "cruel truth" just now and couldn't extricate themselves.
[Do humans have this kind of individual reproductive defect?]
An audience member asked a question.
"It's not clear yet." Bi Fang shook his head. This was a blind spot in his knowledge. In other words, no one had studied this area yet, but there was no doubt that it existed.
But I can't go into detail because Bi Fang is afraid that the live broadcast room will be blocked, ahem.
Although the probability is low, it is better to say less.
【I was hurt by alcohol and sex, and I am so haggard! From today on, I will quit drinking!】
[You didn’t mention a word of it]
【Not astringent】
【Your Majesty, I am sworn in with gambling and drugs!】
After chasing the whole day, Bi Fang got nothing. Looking at the sun that was about to set again, Bi Fang sat on the ground.
Compared with the time when I first came here, the daytime could last more than six hours, but now it is even less than six hours. The time is terribly tight.
However, it was too early. Bi Fang only thought for a moment before making the decision to leave overnight.
It's been two consecutive days of sunny weather and it's not unbearably cold at night. It would be a shame not to take advantage of it.
After chasing for a day, the biggest good news is that the traces of musk ox finally appeared on the snow layer, which means that the distance between Bifang and the musk ox was only two days after the snowstorm ended.
Bi Fang is confident that he will catch up with them tomorrow morning.
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
Some legless amphibians called caecilians eat their mother's top layer of skin as a first meal. Social African spiders go even further, with some female spiders letting their young eat their mothers alive.