Evolution from the crocodile

Gah... The bar-headed cormorant's cry was filled with excitement.

Then it swooped down from the sky, like a sharp arrow shot out rapidly!

There was no surprise. This time the hunt was successful, just like countless times before... the spotted cormorant easily pecked the crucian carp into its mouth.

Its mouth is very long, pointed and large, with sharp hooks, as strong and powerful as an eagle's beak.

There is a huge pouch in the lower throat, somewhat similar to that of a pelican.

Because of this, they can swallow large fish weighing up to 3 pounds in one go.

Therefore, a flat crucian carp weighing half a kilogram can only be considered childish, and will not make this spotted-headed cormorant find it difficult to swallow.

However... just when it was about to swallow it whole, it suddenly discovered that there was a transparent silk thread on the prey, which was closely connected to the water plants next to it.

This strange situation has never been encountered before when fishing.

The eyes of the bar-headed cormorant couldn't help but reveal a hint of doubt unique to birds.

Before it could figure it out, Lu Chen moved!

The powerful tail swings and flaps rapidly in the water, like a starting engine, providing sufficient impact power.

Crash... His body jumped out of the water and flew over a meter in the air.

Its mouth opens wide and its sharp teeth bite at its prey.

It was only at this moment that the bar-headed cormorant discovered the predator hiding under the aquatic plants. It flapped its wings hastily, trying to rush into the sky to escape the attack.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

The wages of avarice is death. The moment it fell, it was destined to become Lu Chen's prey.

There are three types of bird flight: gliding, soaring and flapping.

Generally speaking, smaller birds can take off by flapping their wings directly on the spot. When large birds take off, they are affected by resistance and gravity. They need to spend a few seconds to run close to the ground before they can glide and fly. The larger the bird, the longer the approach distance.

It was these few seconds that gave it no chance to fly into the sky again.

Click!

The teeth accurately bite the cormorant's paw.

As soon as he succeeded, Lu Chen quickly dragged him underwater and performed a 360-degree death roll.

The other three young Gulf crocodiles also rushed forward, scrambling to bite other parts of the bar-headed cormorant while rolling in the opposite direction.

Torn apart by four forces, the bar-headed cormorant didn't even have a chance to struggle and resist.

He only had time to let out two screams before he was divided into four bloody pieces.

Such perfect cooperation in hunting can further demonstrate the effectiveness of Lu Chen's training.

The carcass of the bar-headed cormorant in front of me weighs five kilograms, which is almost enough to feed four crocodile cubs. As the leader, he naturally gets the largest and fattest part.

However, Lu Chen did not eat directly like before, but stretched out his sharp claws to claw at the surface of the flesh. Wait until the top feathers are cleaned before swallowing it in one gulp.

Under the corrosion of strong gastric acid, food quickly turns into energy essence.

Bar-headed Cormorant, Cormorantidae, Cormorant genus, can provide 1 energy point

After reading the text on the system panel, Lu Chen suddenly understood. The essence contained in the flesh and blood of the spotted-headed cormorant is far less than that of the golden snake before.

It's a pity that I haven't encountered one since I hunted one last time.

There are quite a few other snakes living in the reeds, but none of them are too big. In addition, these guys crawled very fast, making it difficult for Lu Chen to catch up for the time being.

After taking a short rest, I left three crocodile cubs to move around in the shallow water while I swam into the center of Liuhu Lake.

These days, he has not encountered a giant snakehead, and he has gradually become bolder.

The sun sets in the west, splashing thousands of gold coins on the sparkling water. A section of black driftwood drifted in the wind and gradually reached the center of the lake.

The sun has been very hot in the past few days, keeping the entire Liuhu Lake at a relatively high temperature. Especially after a day of exposure to the sun, the temperature of the water surface is 34 to 5 degrees Celsius.

Lu Chen turned his head and looked at the position. His long tail swung, his limbs slid, and his body slowly fell towards the bottom of the lake.

This body of water is the deepest part of Willow Lake.

Lu Chen wanted to go to the bottom of the water to see if there was anything else inside.

At a depth of 7 meters, the vision began to dim.

He looked up at the sky and could barely see the water plants floating on the lake.

The water is 10 meters deep and the vision is even blurry. Due to the obstruction of water plants, the surrounding area was dark and the visibility was less than five meters.

The water was twenty meters deep and the temperature began to drop sharply. Lu Chen felt that his body began to move slowly. What he didn't expect was that there were many large fish hidden here.

It seems that fishing friends are right in summarizing that fish are highly alert during the day and most of them hide in deep water areas.

Carp, grass carp, silver carp and bighead carp... these guys all ran away after seeing the crocodile.

At other times, Lu Chen would naturally catch up. Now it is more important to explore the deep pool.

Thirty meters...

The water depth in the center of Liuhu Lake was beyond imagination. Even when we dived to 30 meters, we still didn’t reach the bottom.

Biting coldness entered my mind, and my blood circulation became very slow, and I couldn't even feel the existence of my limbs.

The visibility was even worse. Even with super eyesight, Lu Chen could barely see clearly three meters away.

The pressure from the surrounding water made his head feel a little swollen and his limbs gradually lost feeling.

Immediately afterwards, my vision blurred...

We can no longer dive!

Lu Chen didn't know what was wrong, but he instinctively sensed danger. He hurriedly swung his strong tail, unfolded the webbed hidden between his toes, and started paddling with his stiff limbs.

The body slowly rose, and the visibility gradually improved.

Twenty meters...

Ten meters...

It wasn't until he surfaced that Lu Chen seemed to be living his life again, and the dull oppression finally eased. But I still feel weak in my limbs and my head hurts, as if I've been hit hard with a sledgehammer.

In his current state, if he encounters a giant snakehead, he will definitely die. Lu Chen did not dare to stay in the middle of the lake any longer and endured the pain while paddling.

Ten minutes later, he struggled to move his limbs and returned to the shore.

When Lu Chen looked at himself through the water, he found that his two eyes were bloodshot.

Why does such a strange situation suddenly occur? Lying in the cave, he had a big question mark in his mind.

Is the temperature at the bottom of the lake too low, causing the crocodiles to suddenly become hypothermic? Or did the diving depth reach the body's endurance limit, or other reasons?

Lu Chen thought for a moment and finally guessed that diving sickness could be caused by various reasons.

Through these days of continuous training, Lu Chen gained a deep understanding of the functions of various organs in the body of the crocodile.

The reason why he is able to lurk underwater for a long time is mainly due to his special respiratory and circulatory systems.

First of all, the lungs of the crocodile are very large and have highly evolved respiratory epithelium.

This unique respiratory system allows them to circulate air entering the lungs in one direction like birds, instead of having to pass in and out of small fluid sacs like mammals. Therefore, they can absorb more oxygen through the lungs and store it when needed.

In addition, the heart composition of the crocodile is also very special.

When underwater, they can lower their heart rate from the usual 25 beats/minute to about 1 beat/minute, thereby reducing the body's consumption of oxygen and preferentially supplying oxygenated blood to the brain.

It is these organ structures that allow adult crocodiles to lurk underwater for several hours.

But after all, the crocodile is not a real aquatic creature, but a reptile.

So when diving, they also have their own limits. Beyond this limit, various conditions will occur in the body. Of course, he believes that as he continues to grow, his endurance will continue to improve.