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When the old ghost and I walked into the woods, it wasn't completely dark. I don't know if it's because the time zone here is different from our coastal city, or because of the high altitude and the reflection of the snow, the sky hasn't darkened for a long time.

Since the snow in the woods is relatively deep, the sound of "creaking, creaking" when you step on the snow is another kind of beauty.

After roughly calculating, our current geographical location is basically in the same time zone as Xinjiang. In my memory, one of my classmates from Xinjiang once said that it was normal for them to get dark at eight or nine o'clock in the evening.

The first time I came to our coastal city, it was dark so early, I was very uncomfortable, and I felt like I had arrived in another world. I suddenly remembered my classmate's words, and when I thought about it, it seemed more reasonable to come late after dark.

In this way, it creates favorable conditions for us to hunt and collect firewood. In the same environment, there is light and there is no light are two completely different things.

Taking advantage of the light, the old ghost and I didn't dare to delay anything, so we hurriedly looked for prey.

Originally, we had a small argument about whether to find firewood or hunt first. The old ghost means: collect firewood first, and then hunt. And I mean hunting first and then collecting firewood.

I found that there was no practical point in continuing such an argument except for delaying time. In the end, the old ghost and I came up with a compromise solution - collecting firewood and hunting at the same time.

With that in mind, we immediately took action. It's just that we move extremely carefully. The "creaking, creaking" sound that I made when I walked in the snow before was now unusually harsh. We had to slow down. Because if we make a little bit of a noise, there is a good chance that we will scare the prey away.

Probably due to the dry climate, it is not very difficult to collect firewood. As long as the branches scattered on the ground in the fire and snow are relatively crisp, it is very suitable for use as firewood. The two of them picked it up for a short time, and then they picked up two small bundles full of them.

The old ghost said, "I think so much firewood is almost enough, so let's leave some time for hunting." Save yourself a while and you won't be able to see anything when it's dark. It's a fart hunt! ”

I don't think it's early, and we almost have enough firewood to collect, so let's concentrate on hunting.

Luckily, just as we were just getting ready to hunt, an elk-like thing suddenly appeared in front of our eyes. The old ghost and I were suddenly surprised, looked at each other, and tacitly took the gun off our shoulders.

The old ghost and I picked up our guns almost at the same time, ready to start shooting. However, we almost always want each other to put down their guns. Let yourself shoot. Because they are afraid that if there is any movement in their speech, they will alarm the prey. So, you can only communicate with gestures.

I motioned for the old ghost to let me come, and the old ghost motioned for me to put down my gun. We were all confident in our marksmanship, and we were at a stalemate with each other, and neither of us was willing to put down our guns lightly.

In the end, I couldn't help it, so I pointed forward with my index and middle fingers at the same time, signaling the old ghost to "do both".

I pointed to the left. motioned to the old ghost to take charge of that side; And I, in charge of the right. He was the first to shoot. If the elk runs towards him, he will make up his gun; If you run this way to me, I'll be the one to replenish the gun.

The plan has been decided, and the old ghost will shoot with a gun.

With a gunshot, the old ghost and I hurriedly looked at the elk to see if it had fallen.

I saw that the elk was alarmed. He didn't fall, but ran forward, toward me. Looking at the way it looks, you know that it was not shot at all. I glanced at the old ghost, didn't have time to blame him, and hurriedly raised my gun and fired.

I saw the elk stumbling down. Almost fell. However, it did not fall, got up and continued to stagger forward.

When the old ghost saw this, he immediately raised his gun and hit it. The hand of the gun fell, and the elk shook a few times, but still fell down one by one, and fell heavily to the ground. When we saw that the elk had been defeated, we immediately ran forward.

When we came to the elk, it was not completely dead, but was slowly panting. The clumps of breath, forming clumps of white mist in the cold air, seemed to be painful, but they couldn't make a sound.

Seeing this scene, the old ghost and I both felt a little guilty and glanced at each other. Actually, we were very clear about what we meant to each other, but neither of us spoke. At last, the old ghost said to me, "Boss, seeing that it is so painful, it should be fruited!" ”

"I'm going to beat you!" I say.

The old ghost looked at me, looked at me resentfully, and then stroked the elk, which was still dying, and said, "Elk, elk, it's not that we want to harm you, but we really want to survive, and we have no choice but to survive!" I'm sorry here......"

After saying that, the old ghost raised his gun to the elk's head, ready to shoot. I couldn't bear to look at it, so I turned my head away.

However, the gunshots were not heard for a long time.

I was in such a hurry that I had to turn my head to look. At this time, a strange phenomenon happened: the elk's eyes left a faint line of tears!

The old ghost said, "Damn, I really can't do it!" ”

As soon as I heard this, the fire immediately rose. If one more second doesn't result from it now, it will be more painful. I yelled, "Get the out of the way!" ”

When the old ghost heard me say this, he quickly dodged away. I didn't think about it, I didn't hesitate for a moment, and it was a shot in the head of the elk!

"Bang!" With a bang, blood flickered, and the elk finally swallowed.

However, I still saw that the pain in the elk's eyes disappeared immediately. After the elk ended, the old ghost and I felt very uncomfortable. However, since this has been done, there is no turning back, and it must not be discarded.

The old ghost and I dragged the elk back, and we were both a little depressed. However, we were afraid that they would be worried, so we hurriedly dragged the elk, picked up the collected firewood and walked back.

At this time, the sky was getting darker. In a few moments, the whole sky was completely dark. The old ghost and I struggled to make our way here, and when we couldn't see at all, we turned on the lamp we had brought with us.

As soon as we turned on the lamp, two green lights immediately appeared in front of our eyes!

The old ghost and I were startled. I couldn't help but be shocked, did we meet a wolf? After taking a closer look at the light, we found that the thing was covered with spots, and our scalp immediately went numb. This thing in front of you is not a wolf, it may be a snow leopard!

The snow leopard is known in China as the "Ai Leaf Leopard", "Lotus Leaf Leopard", and "Grass Leopard". It is also known as the "King of Snow Mountain". It is an important big cat carnivore and flagship species, and is called "snow leopard" because of its frequent activities near the snow line and in the snow.

Snow leopards are native to the mountainous areas of central Asia, and high-altitude mountains such as the Tianshan Mountains in China are the main distribution areas of snow leopards. Its grayish-white fur with black spotted spots and black rings, and its relatively long, thick tail are distinguishing the snow leopard from other similar species.

Due to various human factors such as illegal hunting, the population of snow leopards is declining dramatically and is now an endangered species. In China, the number of snow leopards is even smaller than that of giant pandas.

Snow leopard. The most attractive one of the felines, it is cold-tolerant by nature, lives in high-altitude bare rocks and desert areas all year round, likes to walk alone, and its whereabouts are erratic, people call it "alpine ghost".

In the 90s, wildlife expert Dr. George Schaller traveled to China, searching Tibet, Qinghai and Xinjiang. But because "I didn't see the shadow of the snow leopard", I was sad.

Fortunately, at a later time. We "encountered" the snow leopard on Mount Everest. An infrared camera set up by scientists captured it, and this is the first time that a snow leopard has been photographed on Everest in its natural state.

Because this is the first time that an infrared camera has been deployed in the area to survey the snow leopard, it will habitually react vigilantly when it sees something unfamiliar, ready to meet any uninvited guests on its patrol.

The Mount Everest National Nature Reserve covers an area of 33,800 square kilometers and is home to snow leopards and many other rare wildlife.

Be the apex predator of the Himalayan ecosystem. The snow leopard is a big part of the health of this ecosystem.

I remember a report about the snow leopard's conservation policy:

In the context of the National Snow Leopard Conservation Program, the Everest National Nature Reserve Administration and Vanke Foundation established the "Everest Snow Leopard Conservation Center".

Organized a team of experts from the Institute of Wildlife of Beijing Forestry University, the South China Institute of Endangered Animals, and the IBE Image Biodiversity Survey to drive nearly 2,300 kilometers and complete 170 kilometers of trekking survey in just 15 days. 44 infrared cameras were installed on the northern slopes of the Himalayas.

For large alpine animals such as the snow leopard, which are selected to be secluded and have remote and rugged habitats, automatic infrared photography technology is a widely used, mature and reliable method.

This snow leopard shooting event is just the beginning. The Everest Snow Leopard Conservation Center will continue to conduct in-depth multidisciplinary research on the population, distribution, prey and habitat status of the Everest snow leopard, as well as the community relationship of the snow leopard.

The fur of the snow leopard is grayish-white and is particularly fine and dense. The back of the snow leopard's ears is grayish-white with black edges and the tip of the nose is flesh-colored or blackish-brown.

The upper lip is white, slightly grayish-brown, with small black spots and short stripes, and the beard on the lips is black and white. The lower part of the neck, chest, abdomen, inner limbs, and lower part of the tail are white, with black spots and black rings on its fur.

Starting from the back of the snow leopard, there are three lines formed by black spots along the back to the root of the tail, and the black ring edge behind is wider and larger, and the end of the tail is the most obvious, like a plant leaf, so it is commonly known as "artemisia leaf leopard".

I don't know what's going on, but I ran into the old ghost. We are happy about it, but we are also afraid, and we don't know if this thing is hurtful or not.

The old ghost and I involuntarily clenched the guns in our hands, always on the lookout for the unexpected. (A good event for pie in the sky, cool mobile phones are waiting for you!) Follow from ~ point / official account (WeChat add friends - add official account - enter dd), participate now! Everyone has a prize, now pay attention to the dd WeChat public account! (To be continued......)