Brother Ling, look, is that an elk?" Ji Dian pointed in the direction on the water's edge, where a group of deer came to the shore to drink, but their appearance was very peculiar, just looking at the head and face, it looked like a horse, just looking at the horns, it looked like a deer, just looking at the hooves, it looked like a cow, and then looking at the tail, it looked like a donkey......

"Do you call it an elk?" Ling Hao sighed a little, this thing, he had only seen it in the safari park before, it was a very cherished species.

And here, as soon as it appears, there is a large group.

It had a more familiar name in later generations, Elk.

The elk, also known as the "Four Differences", is a rare animal worldwide and belongs to the deer family.

Because its head and face look like a horse, its horns look like a deer, its hooves look like a cow, and its tail looks like a donkey, it is named "Four Differences".

It has a body length of 170-217 cm and a tail length of 60-75 cm. Males are 122-137 cm tall at the withers and females 70-75 m cm, and their body size is slightly smaller than that of males. Generally, elk weigh 120-180 kg, adult male elk can weigh up to 250 kg, and newborn calves are about 12 kg. The horn is longer and dehorned once a year in December.

Female elk do not have horns and are smaller in size. The male has forked horns like a deer, hooves like a cow, and black hair on the tail, and the elk antlers have a special shape and no eyebrows. The head is large, the snout is narrow, the exposed part of the nose is wide, the eyes are small, and the infraorbital gland is prominent.

The limbs are stout, the main hooves are wide and fleshy, and there are well-developed hanging hooves, with a loud bump sound in the walking era.

It is native to the swampy areas of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China, and feeds on grass and aquatic plants.

She is gregarious, good at swimming, and likes to feed on young grasses and aquatic plants. Courtship estrus begins at the end of June and lasts for about 6 weeks. It was once widely distributed in East Asia.

Later, due to natural climate change and human factors, it was almost extinct in the last years of the Han Dynasty. During the Yuan Dynasty, in order to be used for hunting, the remnants of elk were captured and transported to the royal hunting garden for raising.

According to rigorous research, as early as more than 3,000 years ago, there were elk in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River in Shenzhou, and gradually decreased after the Han Dynasty.

They have lived in Shenzhou for millions of years, and the wild elk fossils that have been unearthed show that the elk originated more than 2 million years ago, and the most prosperous from about 10,000 years ago to about 3,000 years ago, the number reached hundreds of millions, and the number of elk fossil sites in Shenzhou is extremely rich, but after the Shang and Zhou dynasties of about 3,000 years ago, it declined rapidly, until the early years of the Qing Dynasty, the wild elk finally became extinct.

The last habitat of wild elk is the coastal area near the mouth of the Yangtze River.

Although elk were once widely distributed in the north and south of the Yangtze River in the eastern and central regions of China, the main distribution center is still in the coastal areas of the Yangtze River Delta. They love warm, moist swampy waters, and even touch seawater to feed on seaweed.

Archaeological findings have found that the number of elk bones unearthed from human sites between 10,000 and 4,000 years ago is roughly the same as the number of domestic pig bones.

From the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period to the Qing Dynasty, the ancients wrote about elk endlessly. It is not only the object of hunting by ancestors, but also an important sacrifice in religious ceremonies.

In Mencius, it is written, "When Mencius saw King Hui of Liang, the king stood on the marsh, and Gu Hongyan elk said, 'The sage is also happy to do this'", which proves that at least in the Zhou Dynasty, there were domesticated elk in the royal garden.

After the Han Dynasty, the number of wild elk was decreasing. After the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, the royal family, who were good at riding and shooting, fished and transported wild elk from the Yellow Beach to Dadu (Beijing) for the descendants of the royal family to ride and shoot. Wild elk are gradually becoming extinct.

By the early years of the Qing Dynasty, there was only a herd of about two or three hundred elk in Shenzhou in captivity in the 210-square-kilometer Nanhaizi Royal Hunting Garden in Beijing.

Elk is one of the more docile deer animals. According to the results of artificial breeding and observation for many years in later generations, the running speed of elk is not as fast as that of sika deer and roe deer, and the male deer in estrus are not as aggressive as sika deer, red deer, and white-lipped deer, and the male deer in the herd will run away when they see people approaching.

During lactation, when people trumpet and measure their cubs, the cry of the cubs can only attract the doe to watch from a distance, unlike other deer, where the doe attacks people in order to protect the cubs.

The gladiatorial fight between male elk for mates is also relatively mild, there is no fierce collision and large-scale movement, the gladiatorial fight time is generally not more than 10 minutes, the loser just turns around and walks away, the winner no longer chases, and the disability between deer rarely occurs.

When the other males peep at the doe, the males only roar and chase each other away. These characteristics determine that they have poor ability to evade predators, and are more likely to be hunted by natural predators and humans.

Elk are gregarious and good swimmers, feeding mainly on grasses, mosses and other young grasses and leaves.

From the perspective of natural factors, because the elk is a kind of animal that loves warmth and humidity, and the temperature in China has gradually cooled in the past 5,000 years, and the swamps and waters are also significantly reduced, the changes in the natural environment have a greater impact on the elk.

From the perspective of its own factors, elk mainly feed on aquatic and terrestrial grasses and leguminous plants, and the narrow feeding habit is also a factor that threatens the survival of elk.

Population growth and the development of agriculture have encroached on the elk's living area. Coupled with uncontrolled hunting, the survival of elk has been seriously affected.

Archaeology has found that the number of elk bones unearthed from human sites between 10,000 and 4,000 years ago is comparable to the number of domestic pig bones.

It can be seen that the elk at that time were hunted in large quantities by ancient humans as food. It is also recorded in the ancient inscription that the number of elk hunted at one time in ancient times reached 348......

In addition, elk is also made into various medicines to cure diseases and strengthen the body, and it is recorded in the "Compendium of Materia Medica": "Elk antler is better than deer antler velvet...... ......In the "Peng Zu Serving Food Sutra", "Family Collection Experience Formula" and the modern "Dictionary of Chinese Medicine Prescriptions", there are dozens of formulas that use elk antler, horns, bones, bones, etc., and elk has become the object of people's pursuit and killing for the treatment of diseases......

It is hard to imagine that this precious animal, which needs to be bred in captivity in later generations, can be seen almost everywhere in the process of going down the river.

The people of this era probably still followed the principle described in Huainanzi: fishing without drying up the water, and hunting without burning the forest.

Therefore, these elk are almost everywhere in the upper, middle and lower reaches.

In this case, there is no need to be stingy with the arrows in your hands, it is better to hunt one to taste for Ji Dian's children.

"Then, Brother Ling...... Which one should we pick?" Ji Dian suddenly became interested at this moment.

"Hmm...... This one definitely can't do it, this is obviously a pregnant female elk, and this arrow will kill two deer, the one over there...... It doesn't seem to work, this one looks like a mouthful, a male and a female with a small moose, it's not good...... The moose here are probably already married. Ling Hao observed for a while, a little nerve-wracking.

"We'll have to go a little deeper, and look deeper into the mountains and forests, right?" asked Ji Dian.

"Yes, but if you go deeper into the mountains and forests, there may be tigers and leopards, but this time, we still have to be safe. Ling Hao said.

"It's better to ...... Shall we go over there and have a look?" Ji Dian pointed to the other side.

"Oh, that place is very good, there is an empty plain, Daze, or His Royal Highness the Crown Prince can see it more clearly. ”

In ancient times, Hubei was crisscrossed by a variety of plains and rivers, so it has almost become a paradise for all kinds of wild animals.

It's normal to be able to see this kind of scenery here......

"Okay, let's go over there, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince should pay attention to your step, if you slip, it's not good. ”

"But...... How are we going to find Brother Qing, Brother Shang, and Sister Shang in a while?"

"Well, we'll see you in the evening, and we'll find them as long as they raise the bonfire, and we'll be able to find them, now...... We don't need to be in a hurry, it's rare to come to Chudi, doesn't His Royal Highness the Crown Prince want to play around?" Ling Hao said seductively.

So, the little prince of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Ji Dian, finally didn't think about other issues, but followed Ling Hao on a safari with peace of mind, not only hunting, but also learning to identify some animals that had never been seen in ancient books with Ling Hao......

At dusk, the big and the small finally returned to the same place with the fruits of their hunting.

"I didn't expect safaris to be such an interesting thing, so I'll have to come here a few more times in the future. Ji Dian was holding a little rabbit in his arms that he had caught after making a trap with the method that Ling Hao had taught him, and he was supposed to be a pet for himself.

"Brother Ling, how should we go to Brother Qing and them now?"

"Well...... Of course there is a way. ”

"Lao Ji! Lao Ji! Where are you? I'm done here! If you can hear it, why don't you come over by the way, I have hunted a deer here, and we can eat it together!" I saw Ling Hao jump to a high place and shout in a voice like a lion's roar.

"Bastard, you are so loud that you want to scare people to death? The convoy is not far from you, just five miles away, and you come to us yourself!"

"No, ask, question!" Ling Hao replied.

"Okay, let's go, this moose won't taste good if it stays for a long time. Ling Hao said as he carried the elk, which was as big as a calf.

"Hmm. Ji Dian nodded.

However, what made him a little speechless was that Ling Hao's method was actually like this, and it was also thanks to the fact that the two groups of them were not far away, otherwise he was afraid that he would get lost between the plains and Daze.

"Rhubarb, what did you hear just now?, is there something wrong with Ling Hao?" Shang Li immediately asked, holding a wild goose he had bent his bow and arrows to hunt before.

"It's nothing, Lao Ling said that he had hunted a deer and was now preparing to come over to meet us. Ji Qing said.