Chapter 170: A Trip to Africa (1)
After leaving his high-level human double in Hogsmeade, Ralph left England with Sophia.
Their final destination is North America, the birthplace of the Ptarmigan clan and where their clan is located.
However, their original destination was not North America, but Africa in southern Europe, where their brother Aiden settled and fought with the magical beasts there, honing his hunting skills and physique.
Africa, the world's wildest wilderness, is the only place on earth where you can enjoy the full beauty of nature.
The magic and charm of this place are far beyond our imagination, and both Muggles and wizards have marveled at the wonder and savagery of this place.
To the north, there was a vast desert about the size of present-day America; To the west, there is a vast rainforest the size of present-day India; The richest savanna in the world, stretching thousands of kilometers to the south.
From the rooftops of Africa to the depths of the jungle are hidden stories and surprises, and nowhere else on earth can you see wildlife tell such a story.
In this last pure land on earth, you can get up close and personal with the most wonderful animals on the planet.
Sophia had been here before, and she was not too impressed by the mystical sights of the continent, but suggested that Ralph land in Africa from the southwest corner of the continent.
This is what she learned in her class in the Clan Lands, where the magical beasts are relatively less powerful and rarely seen by humans.
Thus, the oldest and most inaccessible southwest corner of the African continent ushered in dark clouds that covered the sky, in which thunder flickered, outlining the figures of two behemoths, like shadows of dark clouds of different colors, as if they really existed.
Here, the parched land is covered in thousands of mysterious circles, and visitors once were as curious about them as Ralph is now.
Poisonous plants? Foraging insects? Or is it the work of magic?
Ralph thought, but didn't stop moving forward.
These circles don't move, they don't change shape, they don't change forever, just like this part of Africa.
The land is ancient and dry, and it almost never rains.
The clouds come and go as fast as they come. The animals on the ground looked up at the clouds in the sky and prayed for some rain, but to their disappointment, neither Ralph nor Sophia had such thoughts.
The crown on Ralph's head told him that it shouldn't rain here.
When Ralph was planning to England, he had planned to put the crown in the lair of the Forbidden Forest, where it was safe and no one would be stupid enough to go there and steal.
However, after he flew away from the Forbidden Forest for a while, the crown magically appeared on his head, and the consciousness of the Forbidden Forest within it conveyed to him a sense of grievance, as if Ralph had abandoned her.
Sophia, on the other hand, listened to the teachings of the clan and local classrooms, respected nature, and would not give rain to arid places at will. Nature will not be grateful to you, but will blame you, only the animals and plants that live in the meantime will give you a certain amount of gratitude, but this is useless.
Although the land looks very dry, there is still water here, but it is deeply hidden.
In order to survive here, all creatures must use all their might.
This is the Kalahari Desert.
During the flight, Sophia also talked to Ralph about what she had seen here, which was quite interesting.
It was winter.
In winter, early morning temperatures in the Kalahari Desert are usually below zero degrees Celsius. This is not at all felt for Sophia, and the temperature at high altitude is generally much lower than the temperature on the ground.
And the thunder and lightning of the Thunderbird, and the blood in the body close to the phoenix, can provide them with sufficient heat.
But for the other creatures of this ancient land, it's different.
Take the capuly, for example, a bird with shiny black feathers, fiery red eyes, and a beak with a hook at the tip. The wings are pointed, and the tail feathers are long and forked, some species are outside
The side tail feathers curl upward, so it is called the curly tail.
It is an amazing bird that attacks birds that are much larger than themselves, such as eagles and crows, that may harm their eggs and young; Birds that are harmless to it, such as pigeons, are protected by nesting near the curly tails.
Moreover, some of them are magical species, and the more birds they shelter, the stronger their magic power will be, and their innate danger perception will also increase.
They feed on insects and are important beneficial birds, and Professor Sprout has always thought that Hogwarts needs some.
However, it is a pity that the flying insects they hunt daily will no longer haunt the harsh winter, which is a big problem.
However, they have their own way.
In the Kalahari Desert, Capuchin is the most famous and brilliant master of trickery.
No, it provides Sophia with a memory worth remembering and showing off. Although she didn't need to rely on this means to survive, she still admired the wisdom of the curly-tailed one.
The victims of these master trickers are meerkats known as "desert experts".
Meerkats, 42-60 cm long from head to tail, are small mammals.
The trunk is slender and straight, the limbs are well-proportioned, and the hind feet have only 4 toes with webbing between the toes.
The cheeks are tapered and pointed, extending to the brown nose; It has small, black, crescent-shaped ears that can be closed when digging to prevent sand from getting into the ears.
The back fur is dark brown with yellow slightly convex tips, which are extra visible in the sun, and the fluff is dark brown.
The tail is elongated, about two-thirds of its body length, and the ends are black, and when upright, the meerkat will use its tail support to maintain balance.
They were once ranked sixteenth on the list of the cutest species in the world, but this did not do their survival in any way.
In the early morning, the meerkats crawl out of their burrows one by one, and they put their shoulders on their shoulders and hug them to meet the sun.
After the warm-up, they began to look for breakfast.
In this magical world, they can sense movement a few meters below the ground nearby, and use their magical claws to quickly dig through the dirt to find food.
Their claws can easily dig through the soil and use their senses to probe stones in advance, and they have two innate spells, similar to loose soil and solid soil.
Just as they are looking for food, Capuch Tail begins his scheme.
At this time, according to Sophia, she was stretching her huge wings, not summoning the clouds, enjoying the sun.
Seeing Sophia's figure, Capuch raised the alarm.
The meerkat scatters and flees, beginning to feel grateful for Capuch.
After a while, Sophia called out to a white cloud that enveloped herself.
In Caputail's view, the danger has been lifted, and he cries out for safety, and the meerkats come out again to forage for food.
There is no doubt that Capuchin has earned the trust of the meerkats.
Just as the meerkats dug up the delicious bugs and were ready to feast, Capuchtail sounded the alarm again, and the meerkats, just like last time, surged with magic on their hind legs and quickly fled into the nearby cave entrance.
But this time it was a false alarm, and after seeing the meerkats fleeing, Capuch-tails flew down and snatched food from several meerkats.
When the meerkat spies stand upright from the hole *** and look into the sky, they find that they have been fooled and they are no longer trusting the curly tails.
It all seemed easy, and Capuch tried to repeat it.
He raised the alarm again, only to be greeted by the meerkats' distrustful cries that they were not stupid and would not be fooled again.
Capuch-tails swooped down on a meerkat in an attempt to scare him away and snatch him of food, but failed, being warned by the meerkat with its bowed body and bared teeth.
Capuch-tails flew back to the branches and watched as a meerkat was enjoying a delicious scorpion.
Suddenly, the sentry sounded the alarm, and no meerkat would turn a deaf ear to it, because their sentinels never lied, and they hurried to the nearest hole.
But their sentinels and for the detection of danger,
There was no alarm, and he was watching in confusion as his companions scattered and fled.
Everything was clear, this was what Capuch had done, and he had learned to imitate the sirens of meerkats.
Sensing that something was wrong, the meerkats re-emerged from their burrows and watched as the curly-tailed scorpion took away their delicious scorpion.
Capuly Tail flew to the high branches and began to enjoy his spoils. The meerkats' round eyes shimmered in the sunlight.
With a little trickery, a bird teases a large family of nearly 50 meerkats.
They stand upright in unison, balancing with their tails, and look at Curlytail, who is facing them with its tail feathers high.
Sophia and Ralph talked about it, and Ralph listened with relish, and his sharp eyes swept to the ground, and he found that the meerkats were foraging and playing outside, and a curly tail perched on a branch, looking at the gloomy sky.
As if sensing Ralph's gaze, the curly-tailed cries loudly and sounds an alarm, and the meerkats quickly flee into the burrow.
Ralph found a desire to fight in the curly tail eye, and she seemed to want to fight Ralph, which amused Ralph a little, and then withdrew his gaze.
As you can see, this is not always the case with the curly tails.
They will only trick these goofy meerkats into the harshest of winters.
At other times of the year, the tail of the roll provides honest and trustworthy protection.
Therefore, in the long run, the meerkat family and the capuchin are mutually beneficial.
Sophia admires these clever birds, and she can't come up with such a complicated plan.
For her, when she is hungry, she goes out to look for food, and there will be no situation where she can't find food.
And, since spending so much time in Ralph's territory, she has a new perspective on Capuch.
Capuchin is like the king of other weak animals in a territory, doing his duty to provide them with shelter.
This kind of thing to deceive the meerkat is completely incomparable.
Moreover, there are only one or two meerkats that really lose their food, and the size of the capuchin determines that they do not eat much, so there will be no meerkats who will go hungry because of the deception of the curlek.
As Ralph and the others continued to fly, they came across a leopard cub who, in his opinion, was about a year old.
This is a very critical period, and he will slowly lose his mother's food supply and become independent.
The leopard cub looked up at the dark clouds, and continued to walk with his head down, with the blessing of natural magic, his speed was still very fast.
Following him, Ralph and the others met the leopard family, their mother and two cubs.
In order to raise two cubs, the mother leopard has tried her best, and it was once okay, the child is still young, and the food is not much, but now, she is unable to catch enough food to feed the family.
I don't know if it just started today, and the leopard cubs have to be self-reliant.
Kalahari means "land of extreme thirst", and the prey is extremely scarce, and it is the most resourceful of all the leopards in Africa.
The leopard cub rubbed on his mother, and after being comforted by his mother, he went out again to find and replenish his prey.
The heavenly ralph watched it all with amusement, much like they had been, but where they were, there was plenty of food, and before they were a year old, they skillfully went to the reef and ate it themselves.
Ralph stared at the leopard cub and saw a large warthog not far away.
He seemed to be arrogant, and did not make himself completely invisible, but semi-transparently ate grass with his head down, his ears erect, and he paid attention to the movements around him.
After a while, the leopard cub also spotted him, a potential prey.
Although the leopards' eyes give them the ability to see through the stealth of the Tebo Warthog, this does not mean that an adult Tebo Warthog can be dealt with alone.
Adult Tebo warthogs are equipped with sharp weapons and large fangs that bend upwards and outwards, making them very dangerous.
The mother of the leopard cub tried to capture a warthog, but nearly died. Therefore, this will not be his prey.
The big warthog looked up, as if sensing something, and looked at the side where the leopard cub had left.
After wandering for a while, the leopard cub found a more accessible target.
It was a petite creature, resembling an antelope, with two short, pointed horns that stood upright, and was covered with light golden-brown hair, not as noble and lovely as a young unicorn.
From the sky, Ralph could still see the white hairs on his abdomen.
She learned from Sophia that this creature was called Little Rock Antelope, and Sophia knew about it from Aiden, and Aiden told her that the probability of magical individuals in this creature clan was relatively small, but their feces had a similar effect to the feces of the Moon Worm.
If you see a patch of extraordinarily lush grass jutting out on the ground and forming a circle-like shape, then you can tell that there is a small rock gazelle in it.
The young leopard approaches cautiously and hides in one place, and he needs his prey to be within 4 meters of him before attacking, or he approaches cautiously on his own.
Now, he is quietly waiting.
Suddenly, a jackal barked and sounded the alarm.
The little antelope turned its head to look around, unaware that it was being followed.
The cub approached carefully, and the closer it is, the more quiet it is.
In Mengdi, the little rock antelope noticed the sound of the young leopard stepping on the dead branches, and fled one by one.
The young leopard shook the white part of its tail in disbelief, and stared blankly in the direction of the little rock antelope's departure.
Ralph shook his head, the ensuing scene made him feel disdainful and amused.