Longan chicken, giant spider, poison dart frog

There is a strange insect in the Amazon rainforest called the longan. It is similar in shape to aphids, yellow in color, and has a hard and hard derivative at the top of the head, but this derivative is not part of the head but is part of the nose. I have not been able to observe the ecological habits of longan chickens, but according to the information, when the animals are disturbed, the small animals use the derivatives at the top of the head to violently tap the trunk to deter the opponent; if this is not possible, it will fly high. Regarding the longan chicken, there is a beautiful story circulating in the Indian tribe: If a young woman is licked by a longan, then she must make love with her boyfriend within 24 hours, otherwise it will die quietly. I think this is just a legend, probably which Indian guy was coined to win the sweetheart.

Giant Spider is the world's largest spider, and has been painted with horror and mystery by novelists or explorers many times. I have seen such an illustration in a book about the story of a South American explorer: an explorer's bare body is covered with a dozen bowls of giant spiders, and the explorer slams down and blood flows like a note. This is undoubtedly exaggerated, because the giant spiders live alone, each individual lives alone in the underground cave, generally only 1-2 per hectare, there will never be a group of giant spiders besieging a person. In addition, the giant spiders hide in the curved holes paved with leaves during the day, and go out at dusk and night, which is not easy to encounter. However, for "civilized people" living in the virgin forest, unexpected things can happen at any time. One of my 60-year-old French colleagues was stabbed by a giant spider when she was wearing boots in the early morning. It turned out that a giant spider had misplaced the house at night.

It can't be denied that the giant spiders are indeed fierce. They have a pair of pointed hooks on their mouths. They attack the prey with a hook and inject venom to kill the prey and break the meat into liquid. I have seen giant spiders attacking the mountain rat: the giant spider lurks beside the hole, and a mountain rat feeds on the ground and does not intend to go to it; the latter swoops up and catches the mountain rat at once, and instantly, the prey After a while, the giant spider slowly dragged the mountain rat into the hole and digested it. The food of giant spiders is mainly small mammals such as rodents and marsupials, and sometimes other animals, such as snakes.

In addition to the hooks on the mouth, another weapon of the giant spider is the poisonous hair on the back. The indigenous people told me that if the poisonous hair enters the eyes or the nostrils, it will cause a strong stimulation. I have not experienced this taste, but I would rather believe that this is true. Once I was curious to use a twig to fight a giant spider. After it was attacked, it stood up and raised the front paws high against me. After a while, seeing no movement, it put down the claws and wanted to leave quietly. I used the branches to block back and forth, and it once again put out a defensive posture. After repeated several times, it finally couldn't stand it, and angrily used the hind foot to pick up the backs one after another. Suddenly, the thin fluff fluttered into the air, and I ran away.

However, giant spiders are not without natural enemies. A huge wasp is looking for their "trouble." This kind of wasp is almost equivalent to China's East Asian flying locust, living alone, and the wings are screaming with horrible tremors. They can always find giant spiders by knowing which communication method, and use the poisonous needle at the tail to inject the venom into the giant spider. The giant spider was numb after being attacked, and the wasp dragged its body into the hole that the wasp had dug beforehand. The wasp is then produced into the giant spider body. The egg absorbs the body fluid of the giant spider as a nutrient during the development process, and the giant spider does not completely die during this period, but is forced to serve as a live feed pool for the generation of the wasp. Animals are such a thing that they fall into a chain of food chains and intricate food webs.

It can be said that frogs are common amphibians, but the blue body and the golden poisoned arrow poison frog can only be seen in the humid South American rain forest. Moreover, compared with other similar animals, the poison dart frog has great specialities in terms of food, reproduction and survival strategies.

Unlike many other frogs, the poison dart frog does not catch insects flying in the air, but specializes in hunting tiny ants and cockroaches on the ground. These ants and cockroaches often live under fallen trees, so it is most likely to find poison dart frogs there. In the forest, the dense trees cover almost all the sunlight, and when the trees collapse, the sunlight will reach the trunk and the ground nearby. In the past, people did not understand the habit of the poison dart frog, and mistakenly thought that the poison dart frog was gathered near the fallen wood because of the love of the sun. Recently, the Dutch scholar Ma Jia concluded through careful research that contrary to people's previous views, the poison dart frog not only does not like the sun, but the long-term sun exposure may even cause it to die.

The poison dart frog has a special male breeding behavior. The female adult of this frog is larger than the male adult, but does not feed the offspring. The mating of males and females often occurs in the vicinity of the phoenix plants that live on fallen trees. This is not the beauty of the poisonous frogs, but because the leaves of these plants form a small "pond" that provides the frog eggs. a place of development. Male and female mating, the female frog will leave the egg in the water and then quietly leave, only the male patiently care for the offspring. Once the eggs develop into cockroaches, the male frogs will carry the cockroaches back to different places with the right amount of stagnant water. Because cockroaches are carnivorous, the two cockroaches will kill each other. Although it is in the rain forest, it is not easy to find a place where water can be accumulated for a long time. I once saw the poisonous frog frog in the epiphyte genus on the 40-meter-high treetop, which means that the poison dart frog should carry a little egg. Climb a little on the canopy.

Contrary to the survival strategies of many animals that evade their natural enemies in a hidden color, the poison dart frogs guard against the murder of their bodies, and they are particularly dazzling in the green forest. It turns out that the skin of the poison dart frog is distributed with venom glands, and the venom secreted by the venom gland may be fatal to carnivores. As a result, bright colors and patterns have become a sign of intimidating carnivores. The poison dart frog makes the whole family survive to this day by warning the color and the venom gland. However, since humans have been involved in South America, the alert colors and poisonous glands of the poison dart frog are no longer a panacea for self-defense. Indians can skillfully extract venom for hunting. They used the fine rattan to hold the four legs of the poison dart frog, and then gently stimulated their back with a small wooden stick, and the poisonous frog secreted milky white venom. After the venom is secreted, the Indians will release the poison dart frogs so that the small animals can continue to "produce" the venom. The extracted venom is applied to the arrow and the javelin. Using the arrow made in this way to hunt the monkey, the animal will be killed in an instant, which is the origin of the name of the poison dart frog. After careful research, scientists have discovered that the poisonous substances of the poison dart frog can destroy the normal activities of the nervous system and cause the animals to die.

Later, Columbus discovered the New World, and “civilized people” broke into the world of poison dart frogs and brought them as pets to the city. Sadly, the poison dart frog is extremely fragile, and the temperature and humidity of food and living environment are also strict. Therefore, once they are taken out of the rainforest, it means the end of the day. The poison dart frog is increasingly threatened by humans.