“It’s a badger,” Wang Tianxiao smiled. “To be precise, it should be called a badger.”
"A badger."
Wang Tiancheng was stunned for a moment, then shook his head with some disdain.
You can't blame him, really, badgers aren't considered valuable wild animals in this era.
Two species of badgers exist in the Ziwuling area.
Badgers and hog badgers.
The number of badgers far exceeds that of hog badgers.
This is because badgers prefer to live in cold northern regions, while hog badgers prefer forests, mountains, hills, and the like, which are mainly broad-leaved forests.
Therefore, badgers are more common in the north, while hog badgers are more common in the south.
But this is not absolute.
Our country is vast, with many mountain ranges and rivers running through it from north to south, so animals are naturally not divided according to absolute geographical location.
Most of the badgers in Ziwu Ridge migrated from the Qinling Mountains, so their numbers are quite small.
Decades later, the hog badgers were no longer seen in Ziwu Ridge; only the common badger remained.
Why do people living near mountains dislike badgers?
It's because this guy basically has no redeeming qualities.
Both hog badgers and Eurasian badgers are omnivorous animals belonging to the mustelid family, which is the same family as various minks.
There are also many kinds of martens in Ziwu Ridge, such as yellow-throated marten, stone marten, and tigress.
The weasel family also includes the ever-popular weasel, squirrel, and so on.
These creatures are actually all from the same family, just different genera.
They are essentially distant relatives.
The largest badger in the world is the wolverine, which can grow to over a meter in length and looks like a small bear, hence the name wolverine or mink bear.
Wolverines are quite fierce, with a size similar to a large dog, weighing tens of kilograms. However, wolverines live in the coldest places, and in our country, they are only found in the Northeast and Northern Xinjiang.
All badgers primarily feed on burrowing animals, frogs, rodents, and birds, and also eat some crops and vegetables.
So the mountain people really hated this guy.
Especially during the autumn harvest season, when the badgers hibernate, they start to stockpile food for the winter. They can only steal from the villagers' fields, such as sweet potatoes, peanuts, wheat, etc. They will steal anything edible.
Once they've stolen enough, they'll burrow into the cracks in the rocks or dig a deep hole to hibernate until February or March of the following year.
Of course, there are exceptions. If their food is stolen by some resident animals and they are really hungry, they will wake up early to look for food. That's why we saw badgers tonight.
Badger meat is unpalatable, and because badgers have a complex diet, they accumulate many viruses in their bodies, so people generally don't consider eating badger meat.
Its only useful feature is its fur, which is generally warm for animals living in cold northern regions.
The problem is that if people are only looking for fur, they can look for much larger wild animals, such as wolves. Badgers are only a little bit big, so the cost-effectiveness is too low.
For example, if you hunt a wolf, its pelt can at least make a coat, or even a mattress, but this small thing can only make a glove. To make a coat, you need many wolves together.
If that's the case, then it's perfectly acceptable to hunt mink, which have better fur, instead of wasting time on badgers, whose fur isn't of high quality.
In this era, people still prioritize size and practicality, so badgers are not the first choice for hunting.
Now that he saw it was a badger, Wang Tianxiao was no longer in a hurry.
This animal looks fierce, but it's just putting on an act. Dogs may not be able to handle them at first, but they won't get hurt. If you just wear them down slowly, you'll eventually be able to take them down.
It's not worth wasting bullets.
This is a good opportunity to train the dog's temperament.
However, badgers also have very sharp teeth, and they can bite much more powerfully than dogs.
When people catch badgers, they usually use snares and nets; very few people can catch the creature one-on-one with their bare hands.
If you actually get bitten, that's much more troublesome than a dog bite; who knows what viruses it might carry?
Badgers usually have two burrow entrances. If you block one of them with a net and put some cow dung or other things that can produce smoke at the other entrance and light them, they will soon be unable to stand the smoke and will plunge into the net.
Wang Tianxiao had caught badgers countless times in his previous life, so it was nothing new to him.
So he calmly watched the badger and the dog fight, but Wang Tiancheng had never seen it before and was very nervous watching the scene, occasionally sweating for the dog.
One of the smaller badgers was caught in the jaws of the larger black dog. It struggled to roll around, trying to escape the dog's teeth, but the larger black dog was experienced and adjusted its body accordingly, giving it no chance.
Gradually, I lost my strength.
Big Black dragged the badger aside and watched the other two fights taking place.
Ah Ying was in charge of the largest badger, which was considered quite large among badgers, estimated to be over 60 centimeters long. It was also the most ferocious, showing no mercy to Ah Ying and frequently attempting to bite her, forcing Ah Ying to maneuver and temporarily avoid direct attacks.
"Wow, the one biting Ah Ying is really fierce."
Wang Tiancheng also noticed it.
“That should be the mother badger,” Wang Tianxiao said, pointing to the cage next to him. “Look, the one in the cage should be the baby badger, and the one being bitten by Dahei is also the baby badger. Dafeng and Aying are fighting the parents of the badger. Generally speaking, the father of a badger doesn’t pay much attention to his children, but the mother loves them very much.”
Wang Tiancheng discovered that it was true; the badger father fought loosely and lacked fighting spirit, unlike the fierce and desperate mother badger.
He then thought of the leopard cat mother from before, nodded and said, "Animals and humans are the same; motherhood is indeed one of the greatest emotions in the world."
“Hmm,” Wang Tianxiao smiled, “Actually, all sincere emotions are great, friendship, love and family affection are the same. It’s just that many sincere feelings are betrayed.”
Wang Tiancheng nodded.
"Woof!"
In the arena, Ah Ying finally managed to subdue her female badger and dragged it to the edge of the big black dog.
Only the strong winds are still fighting.
As the female badger was also defeated, the male badger became aware of the danger and its biting became much more ferocious than before.
Dafeng's combat strength was not high to begin with. His greatest advantage was his speed, but when it came to actual combat, his raw strength was really lacking.
Catching a badger is exhausting; it jumps and leaps about, making it difficult to bite, as if it were facing a porcupine or hedgehog rather than a badger.
Back and forth, instead of being suppressed, the male badger became more and more ferocious, even standing up and constantly biting Dafeng.
It seems that without human intervention, Dafeng is in danger of being bitten at any time.
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