"This is how the pit viper hunts for the rabbit, and if it catches a small bird and bites the bird's head, the pit viper slowly devours it on the branch. If it is a large bird or does not bite the bird's head, the highly myopic pit viper falls with the bird under the tree, waits for the bird to be poisoned, and then relieves its mouth, finds the bird's head and starts to swallow it. Wang Mengyao continued, "It usually takes 5 to 20 minutes to swallow a bird. Pit vipers have a great ability, their mouths can open 120 degrees, and they can swallow birds several times larger than their own mouths. ”

I asked curiously, "If the bird doesn't fly to it, will it starve to death?" ”

Wang Mengyao told me: "Snake Island pit vipers have a strong ability to tolerate hunger, and they can survive by eating food only once a year, and some even don't die without eating all year round. But in order for them to reproduce and survive, they need to eat. Pit vipers need to digest for three or five days after predation, and then they can eat, the nutrient accumulation is enough, generally reproduce once every two years, it is ovoviviparous, give birth to one to eight small snakes at a time, the small snakes are born to crawl and prey, and the female snake gives birth to small snakes and ignores them and walks away. ”

"Won't the little snake starve to death?"

"Snakes have no family affection, they only exist individually, and the danger of other snakes has nothing to do with their companions. The longest of this snake is only about one meter, but its poison is very terrifying. Wang Mengyao said, "In order to adapt to the environment and survive in thousands of years of evolution, the Snake Island pit viper has its own unique way of survival, which not only enlightens scholars, but also allows everyone to be inspired by survival." ”

I smiled and said, "I really didn't expect that this trip to Snake Island would be a spiritual education journey." ”

Wang Mengyao said with a smile: "We hope that everyone who goes to the island can be enlightened, but what we can do is still very limited." ”

"By the way, when we came, we heard the boat boss talk about saying that there are more rats on the island than snakes, is there such a thing?" I asked.

"It's Lao Chen who said it." Wang Mengyao said with a smile.

"Yes, yes, it's Lao Chen." Zhou Ruhong replied.

"What Lao Chen said is not false, in this and Snake Island, there are actually often 'wars', mainly the battle of snakes and rats and the battle of snakes and eagles." Wang Mengyao said.

"It seems that Lao Chen has two brushes." I laughed.

Wang Mengyao explained: "In fact, when Snake Island was formed, the rats on the island should have been extinct. The rats we see now came to the island with the fishing boats that came to the island. The scientific name of these rats is the brown rat, which is a strong and ferocious rat. In order to survive, they can only eat tree seeds, grass seeds, and roots, and they have also learned to go to the beach to hunt sea urchins, small crab roe, small conch, etc. The harsh living environment makes them fierce. ”

"Lao Chen said, the rats and snakes on this island are snakes eating rats for half a year, and rats eating snakes for half a year, is there really such a thing?" I then asked.

"It stands to reason that rats are nocturnal and snakes hunt during the day, so it should be said that they do not invade each other. But there is too little food on the island, so they will inevitably invade each other. However, the saying that the snake eats the rat for half a year and the rat eats the snake for half a year is actually a bit exaggerated. Wang Mengyao patiently explained, "In this way, let me tell you a story of the snake and mouse battle first." ”

"Every year in late autumn, the island is already cold and windy, and the snakes enter the burrows and begin to hibernate. Rats do not hibernate, and of course they have to look around for food. A very shrewd rat went into the snake hole along the crack in the rock, and when he saw a snake that had stiffened, the rat was overjoyed, and had another hearty meal. The rat went up very fiercely and took a bite. At that time, the snake had just begun to hibernate, and there was still a little sense, but its body began to stiffen, and it was bitten by the rat, and the pain made the snake's whole body tremble, and the snake wanted to turn around and bite the hateful rat with its fangs, but it no longer had the strength to attack quickly. Seeing the snake move, the rat took a few steps back in fright. The rat stood by and looked at the snake, what a good meal! It's a shame not to eat. In order to be satisfied, the rat decided to take a risk, and it rushed over and bit the snake, but it did not open its mouth when it bited. The snake was bitten all over the body, but its usually extremely flexible head did not work, and it instinctively began to wrap its lower body around the hateful rat. The later outcome was: the rat bit the snake fiercely, the snake stalked the rat to death, the snake was bitten to death, and the rat was entangled to death. This snake-rat war ended tragically. ”

After hearing this story, everyone didn't know what to say for a while. In terms of the definition of the story, what Wang Mengyao told can barely be called a story, but in terms of the audibility of the story, it is really almost meaningless.

In order to prevent the cold scene, I was the first to laugh, although it was a little abrupt and contrived, but it also broke the awkward calm.

"Hahaha, Researcher Wang, your story is so interesting, this snake and the rat ended up dying together."

Everyone looked at my exaggerated expression, and their faces were full of embarrassment for a while. However, they eventually laughed cooperatively.

Although Wang Mengyao was quite embarrassed at first, she smiled gratefully when she saw everyone's tolerance for her, and nodded at me to express her gratitude.

"I have to say, Lao Chen, this guy really can't compare with our researcher Wang, what did he tell us?" I continued, "He said, "Ah, this rat took revenge on the snakes, and when the snakes hibernated, they ate them almost, and when the following spring the surviving snakes began to eat the rats like crazy again, thus maintaining the balance of the food chain, and now it seems that it is nonsense. ”

"Hahaha, yes, it's." Zhou Ruhong said with a smile.

What Lao Chen said is also a common understanding of the outside world, that during the hibernation period, when snakes completely enter hibernation, they are powerless to fight against the rats that attack them, so they have to resign themselves to fate. In fact, the rat population on the island is not large enough to pose a hazard to the pit viper population. ”

"Since you're so interested, I'll tell you another story about snakes eating rats." Wang Mengyao looked at me with a smile, "It's just that I'm not very good at telling stories, don't dislike it." ”

I smiled and said, "How can it be, you speak very well, and explain the profound biological knowledge in a simple and natural way, and we can all understand it easily." ”

"That's good." Wang Mengyao said with a smile, "It was a spring evening, a snake was lazily lying in the grass, the weather was neither hot nor cold, it didn't want to go back to the stone crevice, it was lying there very comfortably." Suddenly, its thermal positionometer detected a rat running towards it. When the rat approached it, the snake quickly pounced on it, biting the rat with its fangs, and quickly injected venom into the rat's body. It was a rat that, after being bitten, dragged the snake as hard as it could. Of course, the venom soon set in, the rat collapsed, and the snake was dragged all over the body by the rat. In the end, guess what their end will be? ”

"Needless to say, it's definitely a lose-lose situation."

"Yes." Wang Mengyao said, "This is how rats and snakes on Snake Island solve the balance problem, it sounds a little incredible, even a little sloppy and absurd, but it is true. ”

Due to the high level of secrecy in the laboratory, we could not visit some places, and the actual time spent in the laboratory was only about two hours. At the end of the tour, we went back the way we came, back to the base at the bottom of the mountain, where we were going to spend the night.

After dinner, the big guys went back to their rooms to rest. There are stilted buildings specially prepared for tourists in the base, and there are both standard rooms and double rooms. A single dog like me was originally going to live in a standard room with people, but because the head was so perfect, I was left with a long head in the end, so I was left alone in the standard room.

At the beginning, there were many people who came to the door, giggling and laughing, until half past ten, when it gradually quieted down, and at this time, the whole base was also quiet.

I was lying on the bed, about to close my eyes, when there was a knock on the door.

"Knock knock."

"Who?"

"It's me, Wang Mengyao, Li Rui, have you rested?"

"Wang Mengyao?" I was stunned for a moment, wondering in my heart, "Why is she here?" I hurriedly got up and said, "It's Researcher Wang, I haven't slept yet, you wait for me, I'll come right away." ”

I opened the door and said with a smile: "Researcher Wang, you haven't rested yet, it's so late, is there something wrong?" ”

Wang Mengyao stood at the door, holding a bottle of things in her hand, and smiled at me with a pleasant face: "Here, this is an ointment for treating bruises, swelling and pain, and my father often uses this." ”

When she handed me the bottle, to be honest, I was really flattered, and I actually forgot about the injury after I got through the trick, I didn't expect that Wang Mengyao would still remember, let alone that she would bring me a potion.

I froze in place for a moment, "Eh, this ......"

"Take it, don't be embarrassed." Wang Mengyao smiled and stuffed the bottle into my hand.

"Then, then I might as well be respectful."

"Hmm." Wang Mengyao nodded.

At this point, the air was quiet again.

After a few seconds, Wang Mengyao spoke: "You, don't you invite me in to sit?" ”

I blushed, "This lonely man and widow, you are in the same room at night, you are not afraid of being gossiped about?" ”

"Poof," Wang Mengyao said with a smile, "You're really funny, what's this, it's just a string of doors, and it's not something unsightly." ”

"Could it be-" Wang Mengyao dragged out her voice, "You have a ghost in your heart!" ”

I was really taken aback by her in my heart, but fortunately I was calmer and smiled: "How can I have a ghost, since you think it's okay, I naturally don't care, please-"

I leaned over and made a gesture to come in.

Wang Mengyao smiled and walked into the door quickly.

I had just closed the door and was about to turn around when something sharp on the ground grabbed my waist.

"Forehead......" I froze in place.

"Don't move!"

"Researcher Wang, what are you doing here?"

"Don't talk nonsense, you'd better be honest and say, what the hell are you?"

"What am I, I'm just a tourist."

"Huh, tourist?" Wang Mengyao snorted coldly, "I have noticed you since you first came to the island, you have been looking around, and at first glance, you have bad intentions. ”

I was speechless, "Well, how do you tell me to explain this, I'm looking around out of curiosity." ”