Agriculture Idol

Chapter 156 The Nest Mouse
Going forward, Brother Xiaoyong found something interesting again. He pushed aside a clump of thatch on the side of the road: "Come and see! There is a nest here!"

Everyone gathered around, what Brother Xiaoyong said was a ball-shaped nest woven with fine withered grass, which was fixed in the bushes under the cover of thatch.

Just as he was about to study what was inside the nest, suddenly a pair of black mung bean-sized eyes appeared at the entrance of the nest.

【what is this!so cute! 】

【mouse! ! ! 】

[There are so many messy things in the forest! 】

Professor Pan reported the answer at a glance: "This is a nest mouse, also known as oat mouse, garden mouse, dwarf mouse, etc. It is named because it builds a nest on a plant pole. , they are the smallest representatives of rodents. They often use their tails to assist their limbs in climbing on crops or between branches for food, and occasionally swim in shallow water."

Not counting the tail, the nest mouse is only about 5 centimeters long and weighs less than 10 grams.Nest mice can move freely among the grass blades with their light bodies and winding tails that are longer than their bodies.It can also tear the leaves finely, and then deftly weave the leaves together, which can be said to be a nest-building expert.

In recent years, the cute image of the nest mouse has become very popular on the Internet, and even a photobook of the video has been published.

Qi Lanting looked at the rat's nest in front of him, and couldn't help sighing: "This is really a fashionable nest. My family bought a new set of chairs, which are also in this shape."

In the country, where thatch is widely spread along the roadside, there will be many nest mice living in it, but it is impossible in the city.

Nearly a hundred years ago, Lanhai City was still a place where thatch was widely distributed, but now there are many tall buildings. In order to prevent the streets from being flooded, concrete embankments have also been built, and the thatch has no environment to grow. disappeared in the city.

While a few people were chatting about the ecology of the nest mouse, there was movement under the small nest in front of them. They carefully looked over and saw that it was a nest mouse hanging under the small nest.

Professor Pan judged: "This nest mouse and the one in the previous nest should be the parents of the same nest, and the baby may be in the nest."

Just as they were talking, the nest mouse under the nest began to use its tail to help shuttle around, but it was not too far away from the nest.

【Awei came out to die! 】

【so cute! 】

"Then what is it doing now?" Li Chengxin asked in a low voice.

"Probably carrying food nearby." Professor Pan guessed.

At this time, Li Chengxin also searched for pictures of the nest mouse feeding on his mobile phone, and the parents of the nest mouse were feeding food to their babies mouth to mouth.

"Nest mice are different from city mice. They are herbivorous. They usually eat grass and grass seeds, and occasionally eat locusts and grasshoppers." Professor Pan continued popular science.

The nest mouse family was spared, and everyone followed Professor Pan to continue looking for fireflies.

A few continuous paddy fields appeared ahead, the air became more humid, and the summer wind began to cool down.

There is a crooked-neck tree in front of it, and there is a small puddle under the tree. The crooked treetop just casts a shadow on the puddle.

Professor Pan pointed there and said, "Go to the puddle under that tree and have a look. The shady place under the tree is also a suitable place for fireflies to hide."

As soon as he approached, Li Chengxin, who was walking in front, yelled, "What is this?"

Before everyone could catch up, they saw Li Chengxin scooping the water with the insect net in his hand.

In the net brought up, a four-legged and long-tailed creature was in it.

"Gecko?" Qi Lanting said an uncertain biological term.

"Lizard?" Brother Xiaoyong also asked.

"It feels like a salamander." Li Chengxin looked sideways at the creature he had caught.

In the end, Professor Pan was able to identify it: "This is a salamander."

Taking the salamander out of the net pocket and putting it on his gloved hand, Professor Pan recognized it: "It's a female salamander."

Qi Lanting asked: "This newt has a big belly, is it going to have a baby?"

Professor Pan shook his head: "Newts breed at the turn of spring and summer, and now it's late summer and early autumn. The reason this newt has a big belly can only be because it just had a full meal."

Everyone looked back to see what salamander food was in the small depression, but they didn't expect to see another salamander crawling slowly on the bottom of the water.Sensing everyone's gaze, the salamander retracted its four legs, swung its tail, and its swimming speed increased greatly, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Professor Pan put the full female salamander back into the water: "The food you are looking for is not in the water, but in the trees."

"Huh?" Several young people with little knowledge raised their heads together, but they didn't see any fruit on the tree.

Professor Pan turned the insect net upside down, and used the pole of the insect net to push aside the leaves, revealing a yellow and white disgusting sticky object hanging on the branch behind the leaves, with many black spots on it.

"Hey! What's that!" Even outside the shade of the trees, this discovery made everyone take a few steps back in fright.

"They are the eggs of tree frogs." Professor Pan replied, "Those black spots are actually hatched tadpoles. Speaking of which, tadpoles can not only serve as food for salamanders, but also firefly larvae."

Tree frogs lay foamy egg packets on branches above the water, while tadpoles slide right into the water after hatching.These tadpoles are an important source of protein for salamander or firefly larvae.

If you look carefully, you can actually find many tiny tree frog tadpoles among the grass blades in the puddles.

At this time, among a group of tadpoles, Brother Xiaoyong found something, and just like Li Chengxin did before, he immediately caught it with a bug net.

The creature that was caught was smaller than a tadpole. If you didn't look carefully, you would think it was a small fish, but if you looked closely, it had four legs, and it was obviously an amphibian creature.

Professor Pan came over to take a look, and was stunned: "You can find this too?"

The creature discovered by Xiaoyong is called the larvae of the Chinese salamander. Although it looks very similar to the larvae of the salamander, the tail is still very different.The tail of a salamander is a cone-shaped tail, while the tail of a salamander larvae is flat like a tadpole.

In addition, the Chinese small salamander was listed in the "Red Data Book of Endangered Animals" together with the national treasure giant panda in 1986 because it was endangered.In fact, this kind of ancient species with a history of 3 million years, which lived in the same development era as dinosaurs, once "brothers" with dinosaurs.

Because it can only survive in dense forests and clear and clean water sources, the Chinese salamander has not been discovered for a long time.

"Speaking of which, I'm still a leader in domestic research on the living environment of salamanders." Professor Pan said with some embarrassment.

[Another paper, Professor Pan made a lot of money]

[It is estimated that a protected area will be built in this place...]

[Full of European energy! 】

"So, where are the fireflies?" Qi Lanting woke everyone up.

(End of this chapter)