poor road [end times]

After everyone entered the scenic spot, they found that the elephant group had already started playing by the stream.

The only young elephant was very naughty, and he had to jump into the water from the shore, intentionally stirring up a huge splash, and wetting the other elephants on the shore.Then it will stand up shaking its head, run out of the water, and jump into the water from the bank again.

The five adult elephants were very patient, and none of them scolded the fussy calf.

Not far from them, the big black cat was quietly squatting aside, looking at the elephants like a torch.Seeing this, the six kittens immediately ran towards the big black cat like a joy.

Huahua still squatted at Yang Yiqin's footsteps calmly.

"It's really big..."

Dr. Liang put down the binoculars in his hand and muttered to himself.

Faced with such a novel change of species, the research enthusiasm of scientists broke out, and Dr. Li was fascinated by it. Qian Guowei called him several times before he regained his thoughts.

Dr. Li was very excited, and the tension when he was on the way just disappeared. He chattered and said: "This is a group of Asian elephants. Asian elephants are the largest proboscis family in the world and the largest continental animal in Asia. The body length is usually five or six meters, and the height can reach 3.6 meters. But have you seen this group of elephants? Visually, the leading elephant is five meters high, and the body length is eight or nine meters. This is at least an ordinary Asian One and a half times the elephant! This is incredible!"

Dr. Liang said: "The body size of mutant mice is also between one and two times. A very small number of exaggerated mice can grow to three times the size of ordinary species. There is also a limit to mutation."

Hearing this, Yang Yiqin looked at the big black cat not far away.

It is three times the size of an ordinary domestic cat, and it is almost one meter tall when it is on all fours. In addition, its demeanor and movements are wild, so it is easy to confuse it with the little black leopard.

But size and capability may not exactly correlate.

For example, Huahua has not changed much in size, far inferior to the big black cat, but it makes many animals fearful.

Although Dr. Liang interjected, Dr. Li continued to chatter: "There is also the baby elephant, which looks much taller and stronger than the young elephants of the same age. It may surpass the head elephant in the future. Pregnancy It was the innermost female elephant, but so far away I couldn't tell how many months she was pregnant."

Everyone can understand his excitement as a scholar.

Qian Guowei asked, "Shall we get closer to the herd of elephants?"

Dr. Li was full of interest: "Is it possible?"

"should."

After speaking, Qian Guowei silently looked at Yang Yiqin.

Yang Yiqin smiled, lowered his head and said to Huahua, "Then I'll trouble you to communicate with the elephants."

Huahua rubbed Yang Yiqin's trouser legs, then jumped out quickly, and appeared next to the elephants in a few seconds.And the elephant presumably, it is too small, if not.

The leading elephant looked at Hua Hua warily.

Huahua said "meow" to it, probably to warn the other party to keep an eye on its own elephant herd and not to attack humans in the distance.

The elephant flicked its long trunk and snorted from it.

So Huahua turned to look at Yang Yiqin.

Although it was a little far away, Yang Yiqin could still see its eyes clearly.

"Okay." Yang Yiqin said to the others, "Let's go there."

Qian Guowei led the team with weapons and escorted the two researchers to the direction of the elephant.

Dr. Li's expression became more and more agitated. If Qian Guowei and others hadn't stopped him, he would have gone straight to the elephants, touched their trunks and tusks, and had close contact with them.

Dr. Liang is calmer than him. He doesn't want to get close to elephants so much. He just wants to study the changes in elephants.

Under the command of the head elephant, the elephant herd ignored the group of dwarf humans in front of them, taking a bath and drinking water on their own.Although the little elephant was a little curious about them, he was very obedient and would never approach them without the permission of the head elephant.

Dr. Liang successfully obtained the feces, hair and other body tissues of the elephant herd.

Dr. Li on the side observed the pregnant elephant up close, and took pictures of them with a camera in his hand. Only the laboratory was powered all day in the entire base, and the camera was specially found by the base for the researchers to record Tools for experimenting with sample and experiment data.

Qian Guowei and others were always by their side, protecting their safety.

Yang Yiqin and Feng Lin came together this time, mainly not to protect the safety of scientific researchers, but as a mediator between animals and humans.Therefore, Yang Yiqin gave more attention to the elephants and cats.

The big black cat is like a stone statue, squatting by the stream to monitor the elephant herd.

The kittens around it made a fuss for a while, but couldn't restrain their curiosity, and ran towards the elephant herd.Seeing this, the big black cat immediately stood up, Huahua also set her eyes on them, but did not stop them.

The elephant herd ignored these smaller hairballs, only the young elephants stretched out their trunks and touched their heads, and then the two sides played without repelling or grudges.

Although the cubs get along very well, the relationship between their parents is still only indifferent.

At this moment, Dr. Li, who was taking pictures frantically, suddenly exclaimed: "Ah!"

His abnormality quickly attracted everyone's attention.

"What's wrong?" Qian Guowei asked with concern, "What happened?"

Dr. Li murmured, "This elephant's pregnancy...is not normal."

His words aroused Yang Yiqin's curiosity.

Yang Yiqin asked suspiciously: "What is this abnormal law?"

"Ordinary Asian elephants are sexually mature between 9 and 12 years old, and then they can breed the next generation. This pregnant female elephant does not seem to be rigidly mature for a long time, but according to my observation, it is about to give birth." Dr. Li said , "That is to say, it has completed the longest gestation cycle among mammals. According to the time calculation, the time of conception is too early... This is unreasonable."

Dr. Liang immediately made a guess: "Individual differences, early sexual maturity?"

Dr. Li shook his head: "I'm not sure. I need to go back and use a machine to analyze its condition."

Yang Yiqin looked at the baby elephant and kitten playing together, and thought of something, his expression gradually became serious.

Feng Lin is always the first to notice his changes: "What's wrong?"

"I'm thinking..." Yang Yiqin said, "Maybe the gestation period of mutant animals has shortened?"

Qian Guowei immediately asked back: "Shorter gestation period?"

"The pregnancy period of cats is about two months, the pregnancy period of monkeys is more than five months, and the pregnancy period of elephants is as long as 22 months, but these are all pre-apocalyptic data." Yang Yiqin said, "but is there a possibility that with With the occurrence of mutations, have their pregnancy periods also changed?"

Dr. Li on the side heard this, frowned and said, "That's too unscientific... Forget it, the emergence of zombie viruses is already very unscientific."

Dr. Liang smiled: "I think we can consider what Yang Yiqin said. Animals can double in size overnight, so it is not too difficult to shorten the pregnancy cycle."

"It doesn't matter whether they are difficult or not. The important thing is that it will make the situation of human beings more difficult." Dr. Li recovered from the excitement of discovering new species. Complete mutation evolution, but humans have not changed much, we are already at a disadvantage."

"Who says there is not much change? Whether it is Yang Yiqin or Captain Qian, they all have the healing ability that animals cannot match." Dr. Liang retorted, "For living things, the importance of self-healing ability is self-evident."

Dr. Li looked down: "...you are right."

When the two researchers were debating, Yang Yiqin walked up to the black and white cat and asked it, "Huahua, were the kittens conceived before the end of the world?"

Huahua looked at him, and nodded the cat's head lightly.

Yang Yiqin continued to ask: "How long before the end of the world, is it two months?"

Huahua shook her head.

"A month and a half?"

Huahua continued to shake her head.

"... Less than a month?"

Huahua nodded.

Yang Yiqin looked serious.

When he and Feng Lin met Huahua, the other party had already given birth to six kittens. Later, the other party brought the kittens to the base to look for them. The kittens seemed to be less than a full moon, only more than 20 days old.At that time, he subconsciously thought that the kittens were conceived two months before the end of the world, and a few days after the end of the world happened, just in time for giving birth, it gave birth to these six kittens at the home of the scenic spot.

Now it seems that his guess was roughly correct, but he was wrong in judging Huahua's pregnancy time.

The two doctors were very surprised when they saw the interaction between Yang Yiqin and the cat.

Dr. Li showed an expression of disbelief: "It's really a shortened pregnancy cycle? But the cycle of those mutant mice has not changed much from before the end of the world."

"It should be because their reproductive cycle is inherently short." Dr. Liang guessed, "so even if they mutate, there is no significant change."

For a long time, they have mainly conducted animal experiments through mutated mice, and occasionally conducted experiments on some large mutated animals, but only mice were bred.The livestock in the base farm are all chickens, ducks, pigs and sheep that have not undergone mutations, and their growth cycle and breeding cycle are the same as before.

As a result, no one noticed changes in the animal's birth cycle.

Others also know a little bit about animal reproduction.

When encountering a large-scale crisis, in order to continue their own species, animals will have a strong desire to reproduce.

This is the nature of creatures. Weak groups continue their race by shortening the breeding period and increasing their biomass, such as rats and cockroaches; strong substances will reduce their biomass and produce fewer and better individuals, such as most large mammal.

Qian Guowei immediately asked: "What about human beings?"

Dr Liang said: "I don't think the human gestation period should be shortened any more."

Yang Yiqin nodded: "I think so too."

Qian Guowei was a little puzzled: "Why?"

Yang Yiqin talked about the biological knowledge he knew: "In order to walk upright, human beings have shrunk their pelvis during the evolution process, resulting in difficulties in giving birth. In order to allow babies to be born safely, our newborns are considered 'premature'. Other mammals Most cubs are able to walk the day they are born, but ours don't start learning to walk until they are about a year old."

"You're basically right." Dr. Liang added, "There are also environmental factors. Human society allows newborns to learn to walk slowly, but it doesn't work in the wild."

Dr. Li said: "This is a big deal, we should tell Academician Chen immediately."

Because of this unexpected incident, Qian Guowei hurried to the scenic spot with two scientific researchers, and hurried back to the base with photos and samples of the elephant herd, looking for Academician Chen.

Yang Yiqin and Feng Lin stayed in the scenic spot, taking monitoring the elephant herd as their task today.

After everyone left, Yang Yiqin looked at the big black cat and asked it: "Da Hei, did you leave the scenic spot before Peanut gave birth?"

The big black cat suddenly appeared in the scenic area before, and it seemed that it came in a hurry from another place.Contact Huahua took the children to find herself and Feng Lin, and sought shelter for the kittens. The big black cat was probably not by Huahua's side at that time.

Otherwise, with the abilities of the two cats, Huahua would not be afraid of encountering danger in the scenic spot.

Big Black Cat: "..."

Huahua expertly slapped it on the face.