fly maggots: flies and their larvae, seagulls, crows and dung beetles.

1. dung beetles, whose scientific name is dung beetle.

When a dung beetle finds a pile of dung, it will make part of it into a ball with its legs and roll it away. It will hide the dung ball first and then eat it. Dung beetles also provide food for their young in this way. A pair of breeding dung beetles will hide a dung ball, but then the female dung beetle will make the dung ball into a pear shape with soil and lay her eggs on the neck of the pear-shaped ball. After the larvae hatch, they feed on dung balls. By the time the dung balls are eaten up, they have grown into adult dung beetles and broke ground.

dung beetle. In the Compendium of Materia Medica written by Li Shizhen in the Ming Dynasty, it was recorded that dung beetles also had some nice names, such as tuiwan, pushcart, black cow, armored general, and nocturnal general. Li Shizhen explained that because dung beetles worms can "turn pills, get pills, and call carts", they are called dung beetles and generals because they "have deep eyes and high noses, look like Qiang Hu, bear black armor and look like warriors". Dung beetles is a large beetle, with a body length of 23.7-4mm and a width of 16.8-23mm. It is short and broad, oval, with a very round back and a black or dark brown body. It is a clean guardian of human beings and a medicinal insect. More than 2 years ago, there was a record of dung beetles being used as medicine in Shennong Herbal Classic. The drug taker is male and contains 1% dung beetle. The medicine is salty and cold in nature, and has the functions of relieving convulsion, removing blood stasis and relieving pain, attacking toxin and relaxing bowels, and is mainly used for treating epilepsy, infantile convulsion, constipation and dysentery. External use to treat hemorrhoids, furuncle and swelling.

2. Introduction to Crow

Crow refers to some species of crows, whose whole body or most feathers are dark black, commonly known as "crow".

Bald-nosed crows are the most common species in the vast rural areas of China. Their feathers are black and shiny, with purple metallic flashes. The mouth is long and thick, the base is bald, and there is no feather to cover the nostrils, so it is called a bald-nosed crow.

In winter, bald-nosed crows often mix with other crows, with hundreds of them flying and singing, making people feel sad and bored, so they are considered as an ominous bird.

Bald-nosed crows nest in groups on tall trees. There can be as many as 3 crow nests on a tree, and there are as many as 1,2 nests in foreign countries. Nesting materials are collected by male birds, and male and female birds weave nests together. The nest is rough and shaped like a laundry basket. Each nest lays five eggs and six eggs. The females hatch the eggs, and the incubation period is 16 days to 18 days. After the young birds are hatched, they are fed by their parents, and after 29 days to 3 days, they fly out of the nest and feed themselves.

In spring, crows with bald noses often gather in large groups to peck at the sown corn. Sorghum and peanuts are also harmful to seedlings; However, from May to July, with the increase in the number of insects, they mainly eat agricultural pests and bring them back to their nests to feed their young birds. In autumn, crows are harmful to crops. After the autumn harvest and throughout the winter, they peck at grains scattered in the fields and underground pests.

Besides bald-nosed crows, white-necked crows, Western jackdaw crows and small-billed crows are also common.

Crows are better at guessing other people's intentions than gorillas.

A new study has proved that crows' perception ability is comparable to that of primates, and their "intelligence" is no less than that of chimpanzees and gorillas. This research report was completed by two researchers from the Department of Animal Behavior and Experimental Psychology of the University of Cambridge, UK, and published in the December 1th issue of Science.

Crows are smarter than we know.

Birds stand on ant nests and let angry opponents spray formic acid on them. Birds stained with formic acid can use this "natural insecticide" to kill parasites.

Crows who live in urban areas and eat carrion are used to crushing nuts for them with the help of vehicles passing by on the road. When pedestrians disperse, they can pick up the broken fruits and have a nice meal.

In the bird world, crows, ravens, scorpions and other members of the family Corvidae are not "stupid birds without intelligence". On the contrary, they are generally regarded as "smart" animals. The human impression of crows seems to have a long history. Even in Aesop's Fables, a story of "crows drinking water" was woven.

Today, scientists' research proves that crows are smarter than people think. A new study has proved that crows' perception ability is comparable to that of primates, and their "intelligence" is not inferior to that of chimpanzees and gorillas. This research report was completed by two researchers from the Department of Animal Behavior and Experimental Psychology of the University of Cambridge, UK, and published in the December 1th issue of Science.

small body, but developed brain.

compared with the body, the crow's brain is quite big. Researchers Emily and Clayton wrote in the report: "Their brain capacity is very large compared with their bodies, which is similar to that of chimpanzees."

Scientists pointed out in the report that although the brain structures of crows and primates are very different, they all use tools to solve similar problems, and they can imagine and predict possible future events. All these arguments are based on existing research.

In order to enjoy delicious food, crows use tools.

"These studies have found that crows are not only masters of birds (except perhaps some parrots), but also as intelligent as some primates." Emily and Clayton think so.

Scientists have experiments to prove it. They keep crows in a cage in the laboratory. There is a narrow-mouthed bottle with a small iron bucket with a bail, which contains delicious food. Crows can't eat food directly, but there are two iron wires with moderate thickness in the cage, one is straight and the other is hooked at one end.

An amazing thing happened. After a period of time, crows learned to hang iron drums with hooked wires and eat the food inside. Even more interesting is the fifth experiment, in which scientists only left a straight wire without bending. At this time, the crow used the support of the floor to bend the wire into a hook with his feet, and then hung out the small iron drum in the bottle with the wire in his mouth and enjoyed his lunch happily.

The new discovery is shocking. The "New Scottish Crow" can make tools!

According to previous researchers, crows and gorillas are using complicated methods to "think" about their social and natural environment, but it is not sure whether chimpanzees and crows can understand the working principle of tools. Perhaps they only occasionally find those tools useful. However, after studying the "New Scottish Crow" in the South Pacific, scientists have come to another conclusion, that is, crows do not use tools occasionally, but actually make tools.

New Scottish crows made two very different tools to find food. They hooked bugs out of tree holes with hooks made of twigs. They also carefully carved hard leaves into sharp tools with their beaks, and rummaged through the leaves.

Jackie Chamber, a British ornithologist, said that this ability to make and use complex tools is very rare in wild animals. Emily and Clayton associate crow's handiwork with the primary human technological invention. Some scientists also found that different new Scottish crows made different tools, so they thought they had a certain cultural form.

Some crows can "guess" the same kind with their past experiences and memories.

Now, more and more scientists believe that animals are becoming more and more intelligent, which is not a physiological need, but a social need. Group life is a complicated matter. In order to optimize individuals, they need to accurately understand what will happen in the world, while dolphins and chimpanzees (including humans) become animals with large brains and intelligence. New research reveals that crows are also such socialized animals.

Emily and Clayton have studied the western crows. Once this bird finds other birds hiding food somewhere, they will steal it. Not only that, because of the experience of stealing food, crows have also learned to guard against theft. When they want to store food themselves, they will carefully cover it up to prevent it from being stolen by other animals.

Experiments in the laboratory show that if a "habitual thief" is seen by other birds while burying food, it will secretly return to transfer food, while ordinary birds will not be so cunning.

The researchers say that these behaviors of the western Jay show that they can guess other people's intentions, in other words, they can enter the minds of other birds, which proves that they have the ability to imagine. In the report, Emory and Clayton said: "Western crows may have imagination, because they need to remember the relevant social environment in the past, use their own experience as thieves to guess the behavior of other thieves, and then find the safest course of action to protect their stolen food."

The study of western crows is helpful to reveal the mystery of human intelligence mechanism.

john pierce, a psychologist at the University of Cardiff, Wales, said that the research on similar cognitive abilities of apes has not yet yielded any definitive results. He said: "The study of western crows strongly proves that animals can understand the thoughts of other animals."

Pierce believes that the study of such animals can reveal the mystery of the basic mechanism of human intelligence. He said: "Language has always been regarded as one of the most important dividing lines between animals and human intelligence. It is worth noting that western crows have no language, and research shows that they have many intellectual abilities possessed by human beings. This shows that the intellectual abilities that we thought needed language in the past may not actually need language, which makes us have to think about our abilities in a different way. "

Scientists also defended the image of crows.

Scientists believe that it is really wrong to associate crows with evil. In fact, in the world of crows, collective interests are paramount, and their black feathers are pure and faithful. Crow strictly abides by monogamy and is a typical feminist. It is always the responsibility of both husband and wife to raise young birds. If we humans are really smart, maybe we should study these old crows better.

References: Small Language Resource Network Beijing Science and Technology News

3. Seagulls

Seagulls-Seagulls

Seagulls are the most common seabirds, and even when people mention seabirds, they naturally think of them first. At the seaside, seaport, and fishing grounds rich in fish and shrimp, flocks of seagulls are jumping for joy. Some of them float leisurely on the water, some swim, feed, some fly at low altitude, and some ...... Occasionally, I see two seagulls suddenly flying like arrows, heading straight for the sea in the air, and then flying in the air, struggling for a fish with each other. Generally speaking, where there are seagulls,' where there are fish, where ships cast nets to fish, there will be seagulls to patronize.

Li Bai, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, said, "Birds gather in Rong Ke", and seagulls naturally like to flock to the sea where food is abundant. Therefore, where large flocks of seagulls are found, the waters must be full of life. Fish jump in the blue sea and gulls fly in the blue sky, which makes the rich ocean full of vitality.

besides eating fish, shrimp, crabs and shellfish, seagulls also like to pick up leftovers abandoned by people on board, so they are nicknamed "harbor cleaners". Ports, docks, bays and ships are almost frequent visitors. On the route of the ship, there will be seagulls following, even walking on the beach at low tide will wake up a group of gulls.

In summer, seagulls fly to the breeding ground, and build dish-shaped nests with dried grass, branches, feathers and seaweed in the crevices or pits of rocks on the island, in the weeds in the grassland and in the bushes. In some places, the density of nests is very high, and the distance between two nests is 1-2 meters. Each parent bird delimits its own "sphere of influence" and no other birds are allowed to invade, so it is inevitable that "neighbors" will quarrel frequently.

Seagulls are very capable of returning home, and both males and females can return to their nests built last year. Each nest lays 2-4 eggs, and both parents hatch eggs, and the young gull can hatch in about 25 days. After 4 days, the young gull flies to the sea and begins to live independently.

King of Birds-Albatross

The roaming albatross is the largest flying bird in Antarctica and the king of birds in the world. It is covered with clean white feathers, with black stripes at the tail end and wing tips, and its body is streamlined. When flying, the distance between wing tips can reach 3.4 meters.

The roaming albatross, known as the champion of flying, really lives up to its reputation. It travels thousands of miles every day, and it is used to it. It flies for several days without fatigue, and even flies around the pole with undiminished spirit. The roaming albatross is also an expert at gliding in the air. It can glide without flapping its wings for hours, and it is very comfortable only by virtue of the airflow.

The wandering albatross is praised by navigators as a bird of good luck and navigation. When ships sail in the roaring southern ocean, they can usually be seen coming at full speed, hovering and flying to guide the ship. Once, on the way to Antarctica, the author met a wandering albatross. At first, people mistakenly thought that it was to prey on fish and shrimp injured by ships. Later, it was found that it didn't follow the stern, and it didn't show any predation behavior. Instead, it circled and soared, sometimes high, sometimes low, sometimes far, sometimes near ... The crew said that this was an albatross giving us "navigation", and hovering at low altitude meant that there were icebergs or ice floes in front, while soaring bravely suggested that there was an open ocean in front. However, the ornithologists on board disagree with this statement. They think that navigation is false and curiosity is true. Albatrosses have never seen people or ships, and out of curiosity and instinct, they keep chasing ships. Their argument made everyone laugh. Then, biologist Dr. Kerry added: "Albatrosses really bring fun to the expedition members. As you can imagine, after dozens of long and bumpy days and nights of sailing, the crew and expedition members are exhausted and lonely. Aren't they very happy to have albatrosses as companions? " Everyone nodded knowingly.

Although other seabirds in Antarctica, such as the tube-nosed owl and the blue-eyed owl, are also called navigational birds, they are completely different from albatrosses. They only live a few kilometers off the coast of the Antarctic continent, and are used to following and chasing ships. Their purpose is to prey on marine life such as fish and shrimp injured by ships and to devour leftovers discarded by crew members. When the sea fog is foggy and the course is difficult to distinguish, you can judge that it is not far from the shore when you see these seabirds. Albatrosses, on the other hand, play the role of "navigation" on the ocean far from the coast. The combination of the two makes the ships going to the South Pole have seabirds as companions along the way, which makes them interesting.

4. Fly maggots are the larvae of houseflies. Its utilization and artificial breeding began in some developed countries. In the late 196s, in order to solve the problems of livestock manure treatment and lack of protein in feed animals, countries in the United States and Europe successively used livestock manure to artificially raise maggots, and achieved the effect of killing two birds with one stone. At present, it is no stranger to artificially raise maggots in China, but the breeding technology is relatively backward, and there are few people specializing in the research of fly maggot breeding, and there is no large-scale production. I