Chapter 191 Arctic Fox (XVIII)
Yu Yiyun had never seen so many dogs.
Looking around, the entire Fox Island was pitch black.
From their uneven appearance, we can see that:
It is midnight now.
During the polar day, Arctic foxes are mainly busy breeding cubs.
The original member of the Fox Fox Army is now nine years old and is still energetic and active.
Especially the youngest sister, she is surrounded by foxes of all sizes, she is definitely the queen of foxes.
Back then, the youngest sister was the thinnest cub in the litter, and it seemed as if she would starve to death if she skipped two meals.
Fortunately, Yu Yiyun brought back food and taught the youngest sister hunting skills.
Following her brother, the youngest sister not only learned various hunting methods, but also learned a more important truth: the power of the Arctic fox is beyond imagination!
When the breeding season came, the youngest sister picked and chose, but couldn't find a fox she particularly liked, so she simply left the father and the son behind to raise the cubs on her own.
This is a very dangerous thing for an Arctic fox family supported by a couple.
Who would have thought that with her own efforts and the feeding from the fox army, the youngest sister actually miraculously raised all the cubs without any of them dying.
Foxes are similar to humans in that there is no need to force a complete family.
The cubs raised by the youngest sister have personalities exactly like her, brave and united.
When the cubs grew up, they all stayed with the youngest sister and became a powerful force in the Fox Army.
The fox army today is so scary that not only the seabirds on the shore are scared, but even the reindeer and musk oxen have to avoid them.
Even the most ferocious Arctic wolves in the tundra region dare not compete with them for territory.
Some zoologists have observed this situation and are concerned about whether the expansion of the Arctic fox population will have an impact on other animals.
As it turned out, their worries were completely unnecessary.
The Arctic fox is a native animal of the Arctic region. Before high-frequency human intervention, the number of Arctic foxes was much larger than it is now, which is enough to prove that the local environment's carrying capacity is sufficient to support many Arctic foxes.
Later, the number of Arctic foxes decreased, not only because of hunting by humans, but also because the entire Arctic ecosystem was shrinking.
Simply put, the number of Arctic foxes has decreased, but their prey has not increased.
The populations of seabirds, Arctic hares, and lemmings did not become rampant as a result.
It's like humans have occupied cities, and the population sizes of all species in the cities, from predators to prey, have been affected.
If the Arctic fox family thrives again in this land, the excrement they leave behind will nourish the plants, and the plants will be able to feed more animals at the bottom of the food chain, thus causing the ecosystem of the entire region to flourish.
Yu Yiyun clearly felt that after seven years, there were more seabirds on Fox Island, the rabbits were more active, and even the lemmings were happier than before.
“Squeak.”
A little black ball that had just been weaned chased a lemming to Yu Yiyun and buried its head on the ground.
The lemmings took the opportunity to run away, laughing at the fox cub for overestimating his own abilities.
The foxes watching nearby laughed and laughed at the fox cub's failure in hunting.
Yu Yiyun looked at the fox cub and felt deeply sympathetic.
I remember when I first started learning how to hunt, a muntjac also jumped over my head.
“Oh!”
Yu Yiyun rubbed the fox cub and encouraged him to keep up the good work.
The fox cub rolled half a circle and lay in Yu Yiyun's arms, acting coquettishly and unwilling to get up.
Yu Yijun had no choice but to catch the lemming and give it to him to play with.
The youngest sister watched from a distance and glared at her brother with disdain.
As the saying goes, a kind father often brings trouble to the dog. Now all the little foxes know that they can get prey by acting cute to him.
If this continues, when will the fox cubs learn to hunt?
The youngest sister ran over angrily, driving Yu Yiyun away, and even drove her brother out of the territory.
"Hmm?" What's wrong?
"Bing bing!" You are not allowed to go home until the cubs learn to catch lemmings!
After hearing the ultimatum from his youngest sister, Yu Yijun had no choice but to bear the grievance and go to the beach alone.
It is now midnight, the animals on the beach are quite active, and the sea surface is full of waves.
Yu Yiyun took a closer look and found that it was a mother polar bear and her cub playing in the water.
The sea water wet the polar bears' fur. The mother bear looked healthy and the cubs were solid.
It seems that the polar bear race has found a way to survive the summer.
The Arctic ice is shrinking year by year, and there are fewer and fewer seals.
As the living environment of polar bears became increasingly harsh, some bears finally took action and followed the ocean to the southern waters to find the seals there.
Seals can help polar bears gain weight in autumn and survive the long winter.
However, the summer when the glaciers melt is still tough for them.
Fortunately, nature gave them a solution.
Seven full years were enough time for some giant underwater eggplants that liked to move around and effectively exchange information to spread the news of "the glaciers are melting, come to the Arctic to eat seals" to all parts of the ocean.
When the polar day falls, many killer whales that have eaten sea lions will come to the Arctic in groups to enjoy the seals that the polar bears cannot finish eating.
They are picky eaters and after eating the fatty meat and offal, they leave the skeleton on the shore or on the glacier.
A killer whale saw his companions competing to see who could take pictures of seals farther away, and asked curiously, "Why are you doing this?"
"Hmm." I don't know.
"Chirp." All killer whales do this.
"Coo coo~" Never mind, this game is fun!
The game of "patting seals" is easily popular among killer whales. Polar bears on the shore come over following the scent and fill their stomachs by waiting for the killer whales' gifts.
After several years of development, the polar bears have now arrived at the sea where the big eggplants often appear before summer even begins.
Even though they are huge, in the eyes of killer whales, they are still no more than big dogs.
Some killer whales like to play with humans. You can see the little humans playing with dogs on the shore.
Over time, they even learned to 'cuu cuu cuu' to polar bears.
This 'seal sharing chain' has developed to this day and has gradually transformed from one-way to multi-way.
Polar bears realize that they cannot rely solely on killer whales for feeding.
If they stop playing the 'seal patting' game, will polar bears just sit there and wait for death?
Many polar bears came ashore and learned to catch land mammals.
Animals with soft fur and the ability to run and jump are rare luxuries for killer whales.
It is not known who influenced them, but polar bears discovered that killer whales would exchange big fish and seals for rabbits, so polar bears, with their amphibious advantage, began to trade on land and sea.
The little polar bear following the mother bear got a big fish from the killer whale and jumped for joy.
The killer whale got the rabbit he wanted and happily somersaulted in the water.
When they came to the surface of the water, they saw a group of familiar little black cubs on the distant shore, whistling and spraying water excitedly to call them.
The killer whales that came to the Arctic for the first time this year asked curiously, "What kind of animal is that?"
"Buzz?" Are we going to eat him?
"Eeh." He is a little fox and cannot be eaten.
"Coo, coo." The little fox can talk to us like the white-headed bird.
When Yu Yijun heard the call of the killer whale, he looked around to see if there was any floating ice, then looked at the sea far away and became a little hesitant.
Even though it is midnight now, it is still cold after swimming so far in the water.
The polar bear noticed his hesitation, swam over with his cub, and motioned for the little fox to climb onto his mountain-like back.
"Bing!" Bear!
Yu Yiyun recognized her and greeted her happily.
"Oh oh!" Long time no see, you have a new baby!
"Roar." Fox, long time no see.
The mother bear looked at him alone and said with pity:
"Roar." You were kicked out again.
Yu Yiyun used his claws to climb onto the mother bear's back and came to the killer whales.
The killer whales excitedly sprayed small hot springs and rushed out their big heads to let the little fox tell them the story of the shore.
"The Rise of the Arctic Foxes" currently has many killer whale listeners who come to follow the series every year.
Yu Yijun told them that there were already more than a thousand foxes in the Fox Legion.
Even for animals with high intelligence, 'one thousand' is still difficult to express.
Killer whales have almost no concept of plurality. The number of their calls represents a number. Yu Yiyun cannot call a thousand times.
He looked at the sea and estimated that there were probably several hundred killer whales that came to the Arctic this year, so he told them, "There are more foxes in our family than the killer whales here combined."
“Eh.” That’s a lot.
"Chirp." I want to see your family.
"Mmm." When you see my legion, you no longer find it spectacular.
The Arctic fox is small in size, and an adult Arctic fox weighs about ten kilograms.
Even if 1,000 Arctic foxes were added together, they would still be no match for a killer whale weighing nearly ten tons.
“Mmm.” They were only the size of small salmon.
The orcas became even more excited when they heard the salmon.
"Eehoo!" That's delicious!
"...Hmm?"
Yu Yiyun asked a big question mark, asking the whale whether it knew the "little guy".
Sure enough, it was the little guy’s good friend, the whale.
"Bing bing!" If you eat the Arctic fox, the little guy won't play with you anymore!
The whale was shocked and said he would never eat the Arctic fox.
Yu Yiyun chatted with the killer whale for a while. Seeing that the sun showed no sign of setting, he was hungry, so he returned to the shore to find food.
Now is the season when seabirds have just hatched and are concentrating on learning to fly.
As there are more Arctic foxes on the shore, there are correspondingly more other animals, and seabirds have more sufficient food.
Although Arctic foxes steal eggs, it is very troublesome for seabirds.
But in an environment where foxes are everywhere, the little birds that spread their wings and take off will have a more resilient vitality in their future life.
The survival rate of seabirds has increased, and the number of birds flying back to Fox Island to raise their chicks has increased instead of decreased. The sky above the island is full of birds spreading their wings.
There was a baby bird that had just hatched from its shell for several days. It had already grown covert feathers and was flapping its wings hard.
All of its brothers and sisters were already flying in the sky, but it was the only one that couldn't fly, and the little bird chirped anxiously.
Yu Yiyun had just finished eating a rabbit and almost stepped on this bird that couldn't fly on the way home.
The bird was frightened and flapped its wings wildly, but its body did not move at all.
"Hmm." Bird.
Yu Yiyun laughed and told the stupid bird.
"Oh oh." You can't fly like this. You have to learn to catch the wind.
How could the young bird understand what the fox said? It frightened and fluttered even more fiercely, spinning in circles like a top.
Yu Yiyun couldn't bear to watch it any longer, so he held the bird down with his claws, grabbed the tip of its wings, and quickly climbed onto a big rock.
The birds were so frightened that they kept silent, and some of their poop fell on the road, thinking they were dead.
When I came to my senses, I found myself at a high place. As the little fox jumped up, I felt the support of the wind.
Yu Yijun opened his mouth, and the little bird spread its wings, firmly held by the oncoming wind.
"Chick!" Well, Fox! Thank you!
I'm afraid no one would believe it if I told others that my flying lessons were actually taught by a fox.
"Bing bing~" Bird, you're welcome~
"Bing bing!" If you don't fly high enough, I will eat you~
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