Live Wilderness Adventure

Chapter 821 Fried Eggs

In 1956, a French expedition led by Henri Rotter discovered 10,000 murals in the Sahara Desert.

In the second year, he brought back to Paris the reproductions of murals and photos with a total area of ​​about 11,600 square feet, which became a world-famous anecdote for a while.

According to a large number of ancient cultural relics unearthed, about 10,000 to 4,000 years ago, the Sahara was not a desert, but a prairie, an oasis with lush vegetation. At that time, many tribes or nationalities lived on this beautiful and fertile land, creating a highly developed culture.

The most important feature of this culture is the widespread popularity of polished stone tools and the manufacture of pottery, which is a sign of the development of productive forces. In the murals, there are also Saharan characters and ancient Tifina characters, which shows that the culture at that time has developed to a very high level.

This news was undoubtedly extremely shocking and sensational at the time. No one could have imagined that the land of yellow sand, which spread over nine million square kilometers, used to be a dense forest and grassland.

Today, humans have already had a more detailed understanding of the history of the earth, and the two phases confirm that it is not worth being a sensation.

However, when people saw the picture of the herds of cattle and sheep on the mural, and compared it with the lonely scene outside the cave, they could still feel the astonishment and amazement.

The form or technique of mural painting is not complicated, but the content is rich and colorful.

Judging from the strokes, a rough and simple touch emerges spontaneously.

Bi Fang moved closer, gently blowing away the dust on the wall, the picture became clearer instantly, and even the colors seemed to be brighter.

Pigments were expensive before the industrial age.

However, human beings have never lacked ingenuity in making pigments. During the Ice Age, when human life was brutal and short, they could still find time for artistic creation.

The Blombos Cave on the West African coastline unearthed the remains of tools dating back 100,000 years: millstones and stone hammers for crushing red ocher pigments, and for mixing animal fat and urine to decorate bodies, hides, and caves Abalone shells on the wall.

In the caves of Chauvet, Lascaux and Altamira, the petroglyphs, painted between 1500 and 3500 years ago, were painted with black charcoal, chalk and bone fragments, and red ochre with earthy reddish and yellow colors. Iron oxide minerals have witnessed the superb skills of early humans in using color.

But the classic true red cannot be extracted from iron oxide minerals, because the latter's red comes from the earth and is not as noble in hue as the red of sunset or blood.

Most of the murals use different rocks and soils, such as red iron oxide, white kaolin, ocher, green or blue shale, etc. as pigments, and some of them also use blood and animal fat. What we have in front of us is This kind.

Bi Fang took a close look and smelled it. Although thousands of years had passed, he could still smell something different. It was a wounded cow with blood oozing from its abdomen, perhaps to express it more vividly. The painter Real blood was used directly.

Perhaps it was too long ago, and the redness of blood could no longer be seen on the murals, but more like brown.

On the other hand, the color of the picture in several other places is more vivid, and the red color can be seen at a glance.

Bi Fang stepped forward to smell it.

It is made by grinding the red rock on the platform into powder and adding water as pigment. Because the water of the pigment fully penetrates into the rock wall, the long-term contact with the rock wall causes chemical changes and dissolves into one, so the picture is vivid. The temperature can be maintained for a long time, and the color is still vivid after thousands of years of wind and sun.

It can be regarded as a rather strange phenomenon.

[What kind of skill is it to judge the type of paint by nose]

【I want to learn this】

[Why do you want to learn everything? Do not teach! 】

【Diao】

On the rock wall stretching more than ten meters, there are many figures besides cattle and sheep.

Many of them are majestic warriors, showing an awe-inspiring and inviolable mighty demeanor, holding spears and round shields, and riding swiftly on chariots, showing a scene of conquest.

There are also some wearing loincloths and small caps; some do not carry weapons, as if they are percussion instruments; The portraits are all in dancing poses.

As for the inside, it was too dark to see clearly, and Bi Fang didn't light the torch rashly.

To be honest, I really don't know much about murals, so I can only make a match from the historical perspective and the chemical pigments, and I can't do it from a cultural perspective.

【Teacher Fang laughed】

[I only understand billions of points]

[Look at the humility of the boss]

However, in addition to the cultural value of murals, there are still many other practical values, such as changes in historical climate. In addition to natural sampling and analysis, the study of historical climate is also inseparable from such historical data. These two are mutually corroborated.

Proxy evidence for reconstructing historical climate generally falls into two broad categories.

The first is historical document records, which can be roughly divided into weather records, meteorological disaster records, phenological records, regional climate characteristics and their impact records, etc. according to the content of the records.

The second is natural proxy evidence, currently commonly used mainly includes tree rings, ice cores, stalagmites, corals, lake and bay sediments, etc.

Historical climate research is an important part of historical geography, especially historical physical geography. The main purpose is to study the history of climate, reveal the laws of past climate changes, and use the past for the present.

Many studies now point out that the era of human influence on the natural evolution of the earth has come. When the human living environment is facing a series of severe challenges such as global warming and frequent occurrence of extreme weather and climate events, it will become important to study climate change in historical periods. extremely important.”

Okay, since there are murals here, let's not disturb them. Pigment substances are very sensitive to carbon dioxide.

The Altamira cave paintings, one of Spain's 12 great treasures, were severely damaged in the 1960s and 1970s because of the carbon dioxide brought in by a large number of tourists.

After that, it has been open with a limited flow, and now the waiting list for visiting has been queued for three years.

Let's look at another cave and see if there is nothing there.

After looking at the murals for the last time, Bi Fang led Alpha out of the cave, went to several other caves on the same rock wall, and found that apart from the one just now, there were some corresponding paintings in the other caves , accounting for about two-thirds of the total.

In those caves without murals, Bi Fang also found some other interesting things.

In the wild, when you encounter a cave, don't be so excited that you can explore it. Dark and damp caves are the favorite shelters for many poisons, especially in the desert, where the sun is scorching during the day, and animals have to find dark places. To escape the heat, caves are their first choice.

No longer worried about damaging the mural, Bi Fang lit a torch, squatted down, and used the torch to attract the attention of the poisonous snake in front of him.

Look, a horned viper.

Bi smiled.

The desert horned viper is a snake that is easily recognized by ordinary people because of the two clearly visible horns on its head.

At this time, the horned viper was curled up behind a rock, its body, which was the same color as the gravel, curled up tightly, like a spring compressed to the extreme, obviously ready to attack.

Although I have caught poisonous snakes in the desert several times, but with poisonous snakes, a miss often means the end, only zero times, so Bi Fang didn't dare to get too close.

[I have seen it in the animal world! 】

[Vipers are poisonous, right? 】

[Is this today's lunch? (dog head)]

[Fuck, this corner is so domineering! 】

【Certificate rate】

[Is this horn a bone? On the head? That's a bit awesome]

No, unlike the hardened keratin of rhinoceros horns, the two horns on the head of the horned viper are extensions of the snake's normal scales, that is, you can't see these two small horns on its skull.

The two horns can even fold, and when it goes through the subsurface sand, they flatten the top of the head. They also fold when touched.

As a desert-dwelling snake, the horns could theoretically protect their eyes from the sun's harsh rays, keeping their vision intact while crawling across the dunes.

However, it's also possible that they use their horns as lures, their scales rubbing up and down, side to side, to camouflage species such as wriggling worms, and to lure rodents and then prey on those rodents.

One of the hallmarks of this species is burying itself in loose sand dunes with only the eyeballs showing, and all a passing animal can see are its horns and eyes.

Bi Fang brought the torch close, and the audience could clearly see that the snake's lower body was buried in the gravel.

The cave has been exposed to wind and sun all year round, and a lot of sand and gravel have accumulated in the first few meters.

These snakes are almost never found in human habitation. They have been carefully evolved to survive in desert areas. They store precious moisture and morning dew from recently eaten prey in their scales.

It is said that Celestus in Greek mythology was created in the image of a horned viper.

One of the lesser-known chapters of Greek mythology, the Celestus is a terrifying horned serpent monster.

Legend has it that the beast was born from Medusa's blood spilled in the Libyan desert, and it was an evil head that could be regenerated.

According to legend, Celestus, while waiting for a traveler to pass by, jumped out of the sand and dragged him into the sand with his fangs. The beast moved sideways, and it is said that because thousands of years ago, Helen of Troy stepped on Paris's back when she eloped with Paris, in exactly the same way as the horned adder.

The desert horned viper, one of four species of rattlesnakes in the world, does not glide forward, but moves directly sideways, with only two small body parts touching the ground in order to minimize contact with the scorching desert floor.

Professional researchers can directly judge the number of scales on the abdomen of the horned viper through the snake prints left on the sand, and then know the size and age of the body.

As for its toxicity, I won't say much. It is very strong. If you are bitten, there is a chance of death. The venom will destroy the cell membrane and the inner core of these cells. Death is usually kidney failure, because the cells rupture and the organs cannot function normally.

[Every time I talk about how fierce and poisonous the snake is, and then I get so close and such a rascal, it's annoying [wonderful]]

[Austin Stevens, the King of Snakes in South Africa, used to be often broadcast on the Science and Education Channel. I remember an episode where he was bitten by a viper. I forgot whether it was a horned viper or a Gabon viper]

[One thing to say, every time I see Fangshen introduce the poisonous snake, I am very scared (cover my face)]

And this one.

Bi Fang tried to go around the horned viper and look behind it, but at this moment the horned viper suddenly made a louder rustling sound, tensed up again, and the one that was about to attack dispelled his idea of ​​trying.

Of course, just the idea of ​​looking around, not giving up on capturing it.

Bi Fang stared at the horned viper, explained while shaking the torch in his hand.

The horned viper has a calm personality, but when faced with a threat, they will curl their bodies into a C shape and rub their bodies to warn the enemy.

Because their scutes are quite hard, they can make a powerful rattling sound, like the saw-scaled viper. Both adults and larvae of this species are capable of making this particular rustling sound, and they also possess a sharp bite ability, so we have to be careful.

The torch exuding high heat firmly attracted the attention of the horned adder, and Bi Fang held the stick in the other hand, quietly waiting for the opportunity.

As he said, catching poisonous snakes is a very dangerous thing, so Bi Fang seldom does it directly, and usually uses a tree stick to press down on the head, and then cuts off the head directly.

Bi Fang caught many rattlesnakes with this trick.

Not all snakes rely on heat induction for predation, usually only Vitiliidae.

Snakes such as rattlesnakes, pit vipers, desert vipers, and bamboo leaf greens all have extremely developed buccal fossa structures, and use thermal induction as the main means of locking prey.

The opportunity came quickly.

When the horned viper couldn't bear it and finally jumped out of its body to attack, the stick in Bi Fang's hand also slammed down, hitting the horned viper's head immediately.

This force was heavy, almost not for the purpose of pressing, it directly smashed its head, the pain made the horned adder tumbling wildly on the spot, and the gravel underneath twisted into messy patterns.

[The tree stick makes a great contribution! 】

【It gives me a headache】

【This is too accurate】

Bi Fang didn't let it suffer for too long, stepped forward to see the gap, pressed his head, and chopped off the head with a knife.

Only the rest of the body was still struggling, so Bi Fang used a tree stick to push the snake's head away, and then used the stick to push away the rock where it was hiding.

As the rock rolled to the side, dozens of round eggs came into sight.

Bi Fang flicked the brim of his hat and whistled.

Sure enough, I just wanted to say that this one seems to be a female snake. Viperidae usually lay eggs in July and August, and most snakes also lay eggs at this time.

If I remember correctly, most of the horned vipers are active in April, and then they lay eggs in 50 to 80 days, so it happens to be June and July.

We are lucky, we can have fried eggs tonight.